Harry Potter and the Year of the Heirs
by Crash3350
Summary: It's Harrys sixth year and not only is there an additional prophecy about him, but vampires are now attending Hogwarts. Read and Review W.I.P.
1. Fudges Final Decree

As the end of a dismal June came to a close, a 16 year old Harry Potter sits under a street light in front of his uncles house as a snowy owl swoops form the skies "Hedwig!" he called out of glee for he had not seen his owl since the final term of a horrible year at Hogwarts.  
The owl had dropped a parcel in his lap as she perched onto his shoulder, the parcels sender was none other then Ron Weasely;  
Harry, thought this might cheer you up, flip to page 2 of the Prophet  
-Ron.  
Harry did so interested in seeing the news,  
The Ministry has found sufficient evidence  
That a Miss Delores Jane Umbridge been respon-  
sible for illegal goings on before and during  
her staying at Hogwarts. Before leaving, in  
Hopes of discrediting The boy who lived, she  
She sent 2 dementors to Mr. Potter's residence  
in muggle London no less. During her stay in  
the school, she attempted to performing an  
Unforgivable curse before being interrupted.  
If found guilty, Miss Umbridge may face a  
Minimum 5 years sentence in Azkaban, this must  
Of coarse wait for the appointment of a new  
Appointment of the Minister of Magic due to his  
Lack of responsibility after warnings of He-Who-Must-  
Not-Be-Named return.  
  
Harry couldn't help but grin from ear to ear after the year of pure hell she gave him but also he wondered who would be elected minister of magic. He thought for sure it would be someone lower in rankings but high in experience due to the fact that all officers that held position in Fudges regime also disregarded the warnings of Voldemorts return. "Boy, if you want to eat tonight you'd better come now or your going to be hungry" yelled he over-weight uncle. As he entered the house still wearing his dopey grin he was stopped by his cousin who was also quite large, "What are you so happy about, and what have you got there, a letter from your boyfriend?" Harry found it best to just ignore his cousin no matter how intelligent and witty his insults were. After a deafening silent dinner with his aunt and uncle he went to bed, after the warning they received from Mad-eye they no longer yelled at him, they simply ignored him. As he sat on his bed he began to clear his mind, Dumbledore suggested he continued with what he had learned with blocking Voldemorts from accessing his mind, that was how he lost the only father figure he had in the past 14 years. The next morning Harry awoke with a start noticing some one sitting on his school trunk with his back facing Harry "Excuse me but...who are you?" when the man turned around it was none other than his former professor Lupin, "Professor! It's great to see you!" Harry said in a joyous tone. "Good too see you as well Harry. Well, are you ready to go?" Lupin asked. "Go where professor? Is it... Can I...Are we going-to Grimsauld place? Harry choked. "Yes Harry. Now why don't you get dressed and pack your things. I will need a word with your Aunt and Uncle so just wait here for a bit. Harry nearly jumped into his close and he just threw all of his clothes not being able to wait to see Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Ron, Hermione and Sirius! Wait, Sirius is dead he thought, with those few brief moments of happiness he had completely forgot about his god fathers death. He sat on his bed for 20 minutes with a sullen expression thinking about how odd it would be to be living in Sirius's old house when he wasn't alive; he tried to banish this thought from his mind when Remus walked in to the room, "Your uncle is an ass" he said matter of factly. Harry found the quite amusing and with that they were off to the house formally owned by Sirius. "How will we be getting there, Professor?" Harry queried. Remus gave a hearty laugh and said "You'll see Harry" and to Harry's annoyance that was all. Minutes later they were standing at the end of Privet Drive when Lupin drew his wand from within his shaggy and tattered robes. Harry was about to ask what he was doing then he remember he himself had accidentally 3 years back called the Knight bus the bus for 'wizards' in need' which then brought him to the leaky cauldron. Just then Lupin called out lumos and before Harry could grab his trunk from behind him a large triple-decker bus appeared from as it would seem thin air. He was greeted by the usual greeter Stan, a young, acne plagued man "Well idn't it Mr 'Arry Potter" followed by slang Harry couldn't understand as he trudged behind Lupin to a couch in the middle of the bus. "I assume you know Stan?" Remus grinned. Harry half-heartedly grinned back not in the mood for Stan and his mumblings. When Lupin told the driver the destination Harry hadn't heard him so he just assumed he said 12 grimauld place, but to Harry's surprise, when the bus stopped at Diagon Alley Remus stood and told Harry to gather his things and to follow him. "We must attend to some business here before going to our eventual destination" he explained picking up on Harry's bewildering expression. By the time Harry and Lupin had a room all setup and there things taken care of they were eating there dinner in the seclusion of there personal rooms as opposed to the mess hall. "What are we doing here professor?" Harry asked some what anxious to hear of the business his former professor brought him here to attend to. "Well Harry, your 16th birthday will soon be upon us, yes?", Harry nodded, still not quite sure where he was headed. "Judging by the confused look on your face, you haven't been keeping up on the Prophet?" "Well, Ron sent me one copy of the issue when that old bat Umbridge was being accused of illegal actions" Harry exclaimed, his pulse sped up of the thought that something big enough to be in the Prophet that was going to affect him. "Did you read the entire paper, Harry?" he asked, as his grin widened. "No Professor, but I have it right here" he said as he dug threw his trunk, "Ah, here it is" Harry proclaimed, as he reveal the paper folded to the article concerning the former High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. "Turn to front page Harry" Lupin grin became wider then Harry had ever seen it, Harry could feel the excitement dancing in his veins, his hands almost shaking.  
  
The Ministers Final Decree  
Today, Cornelius Fudge has released that his last act  
Of Minister of Magic would be to change the age  
restrictions of the wizarding world to do things such as  
use magic out side of school down to the age of 15.  
Another change he has made is the age of apparition,  
he has lowered this age to 15 as well "In these  
changing times the laws need to change with  
them. Now that You-Know-Who has returned, magic  
must be used, especially in formally under age  
none pure-blooded wizards and witches to do what ever  
the can to protect their muggle family and themselves.  
Apparation age must be lowered also because people of  
15 years are not able to rely on there magic abilities,  
they must also contain the ability to escape."  
  
"Does this mean I...?" Harry choked in excitement. "Yes, Harry. Tomorrow you will start your apparation lessons, by the end of the week if all goes well, you shall have your apparation license." Remus continued to have his large grin.  
That night, Harry found it impossible to sleep. 'I can't believe it! I'll be apparating by with in the week!' was all that was running through his mind. Then, a brilliant thought occurred to him "Dormius Incantus". A sleeping spell! Moments after he cast the spell he awoke well rested and ready to tackle his apparation lessons he leapt out of bed and into a black sweat shirt and a pair of jeans that belonged to Dudley when he was about 6, but were still a little big for Harry, so he also grabbed a belt.  
Half-way out the door, Harry realized, he had no idea where this place was, in mid stride, one foot in his room, on in the hall, Harry turned around to find Lupin sitting in a chair smoking a pipe reading the Prophet "I didn't know you smoked professor" he said in a worried tone "Only before full moon, the potions for my transformation bothered me, so I put the wolfs bane and the other herbs into a pipe, same result, no side effects." Harry still unsure, but eager to learn to apparate, shrugged it off for the moment,  
"Professor, is it almost time for my lessons?" Harry asked anxiously. "Yes I believe so, I think we should head down for breakfast first though"  
"But...but..." Harry knew there were no points in arguing when Remus used that tone. With that the started down the hallway and down the curving stair way. When they entered they mess hall, they noticed something they had not the night before. There was one sole picture left of Sirius saying wanted, with Sirius screaming. Harry couldn't take it he had to look away. Lupin had a sad smile as he saw it. Noticing their reaction, Tom took down the poster, almost apologizing to Harry and Lupin without words. After a silent breakfast, "Well, shall we take our leave?" Remus asked in a pleasant tone. Harry nodded slowly, to think, only 3 years ago he had learned feet from where he stood, the learned the rumors of Sirius Black, the murderer, and now, he mourned for Sirius Black, the god father. As they exited the Leaky Cauldron, things quickly brightened up as they were greeted by Mr. Weasley, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.  
"Harry!" Hermione and Ginny squealed simultaneously as Hermione rushed forward giving him a massive hug. "Hey Harry, can you believe it? we'll be apparating and disapparating in no time! Well, you will at least, if Bill didn't pass right away, what are the chances I will?" Ron said in a not-so-optimistic tone. "Honestly Ron, with an attitude like that, how do you expect to do well?" Hermione said in a disapproving, very Mrs. Weasley like tone. "Hey guys, it's great to see you. How long have you been here?" Harry asked. "We just arrived Harry, floo-powdered to the Leaky Cauldron, and we came out for some air" Mr. Weasley explained in his usual perky tone. "The class begins in 10 minutes, we should get going" Remus said.  
As Remus and Mr. Weasley discussed matters pertaining to the Order, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and Harry talked about the past month "Fred and Georges joke shop has been bringing in loads of galleons, they even bought me a book on keeping, it's written by the keeper for the Chudley Cannons's." Ron said excitedly. "Ron, that's great, I can't wait until we can practice later" Harry said enthusiastically. "Let me guess, Hermione's been reading all summer?" Harry said jokingly.  
"No!" Hermione said in a hurt voice. "I been looking up jinxes, spells, and hexes and practicing them." she said in a very matter- of-fact tone. "I'm using magic as much as I can because a lot of people in the Ministry are upset by this law and when the new Minister is elected they'll will most likely revoke it." she explained.  
"Find anything good?" Harry inquired  
"Actually, yes, I found several spells, one is a spell to temporally vanish the head of the target to a random place." Hermione seemed quite impressed with herself after seeing the looks of shock from Harry, Ron, and Ginny. "That's bloody brilliant Hermione!" Ron proclaimed. She nodded in approval.  
"How about you, Ginny, what have you been working on? Harry inquired. "Well, Ron and I have been practicing Quiditch, he's been playing keeper and I've been playing chaser. This year you'll be seeker and I'll switch over to chaser, I prefer that position anyway, seeker gets lonely." Ginny said with an awkward giggle. "Hermione was playing too" she added. Before Harry could ask about this, Mr. Weasley interjected, "We're here" he said as they stopped in front of a dusty shop bitch a sign that had just been replaced 'McGonagal's House of Apparation" All the children looked stunned after reading the sign "I didn't know that she taught apparation" Hermione gasped. 


	2. From Apparation to ADD

Neither of adults seemed to take any notice to the sign, and if they did, it didn't show. Just before Ron could finish asking "What the bloody hell" Remus herded the group into an extremely large room, at least 100 meters by 100 meters. There were large red boxes spread out randomly across the room. They hadn't noticed the woman at the front desk until she had greeted them. "Hello children, I am Brianna McGonagall, I'm sure you know my mother, she teaches up at Hogwarts. Are you ready to begin she said with a sweet smile" She seemed to be in her late 20's; she had long brown hair and a sweet face. Ron and Harry were dumfounded, as the girls responded they stood their jaws wide open, this caused not only Hermione and Ginny to scowl, but Remus, and Mr. Weasley to laugh profoundly. Brianna also giggled, "I thought this may be a problem" she smiled, and with that she gave a hard blink and a slight twitch and her face contorted and just turned in a face that was a dead ringer for her mother at a younger age. "I'm a metamorphous, everyone in my family is," she explained, "so shall we begin?" and with the nods of Harry and Ron they began. "Disapparating is very important for witches and wizards traveling. It is quite dangerous for those who are not properly taught, splinching is the second leading cause of injury of people in our world. Some one is splinched every 10 minutes." Every one gave a slight shudder from that bit of information. Brianna could tell by the grimace and look of worry on their faces, "I can assure you, no one will splinch themselves during and after taking this coarse" she said reassuringly. After this things became much more relaxed. "It is very important to vanquish all thoughts in your mind except your destination. Follow me." They did as they were told, she lead them to the opposite side of the room. Being that Ron was not in the greatest of shape he was nearly out of breath when they reached the other side of the room. Harry noticed this and let out a snikker. "OW!" Harry shout rubbing his arm from where Ron punched it "Stupid prat" Ron wheezed. Everyone found this quite amusing. " "Okay then everyone, take out your wands" she said firmly. Every one exchanged confused glances. "In the beginning, we use our wands just to focus the energy of magic it requires. Same thing applies to regular magic, Ron and Ginny, I know your mother quite well, she can cast the summoning spell in short range with out use of her wand." Ron grinned with a weird sense of pride and Ginny blushed a bit. "Any way, the incantion is 'binkinus aparatus', the wand movement is like so" she said the incantation forcefully and swatted her wand from her should to her waist, and with that, they heard the loudest crack from apparating they'd ever heard. She did it again to return. "When you are able to do it without a wand, there is much more energy and since the energy can't be used in movement, it's used in sound" she explained. Ron looked at Harry, looking like Crabbe or Goyle during reading. Harry shrugged while Hermione mouthed the word "Ohhh" and nodded. Ginny gave no signs to if she had any idea what Brianna said. By the looks on Ron and Harry's faces she could tell they were lost "It's ok, it doesn't quite matter any way" she smiled. "Now, who would like to go first?" Ron nudged Harry forward "Ah, Harry, okay, now have you got the wand movement and incantation down?" she asked, Harry nodded. "Ok then, concentrate on the space inside the box closest to us, and take a deep breath," Harry did so. "Now close your eyes and clear your mind, now envision your self in that box, that's good, now the wand movement and incantation..."  
"Binkinus aparatus!" Harry shouted with a harsh batting of the wand movement, he heard a very faint crack and he felt his stomach flip and all of a sudden he was not where he was standing he began turning around in excitement "Ron I did ..." and he noticed he was about 3 feet in front of where he was standing before. "Damn"  
"It ok Harry but your wand movement was too jagged, it needs to be like this" as she said 'this' she showed him the motion. "Ron would you like to give it a try?" she smiled. Ron gulped and nodded. He walked up to wear Harry had stood. He recited the incantation strongly and did the wand movements. Ron's made a louder crack then Harry's. When Ron opened his eyes, he was looking at Harry and the others and they all had a concerned look on their faces, then, he started to drop and fast and with a thud and some foul language from Ron they rushed over to him "Ron! Are you okay??" Harry asked.  
"That sucked what just happened?" Ron groaned.  
"Um, well you see..." Hermione started  
"You disapparated onto the ceiling" Ginny let out with a giggle.  
"Very compassionate Gin, Ron said in an annoyed voice, everyone began laughing. "Seriously though Ron, are you alright?" Brianna asked in a concerned tone. "I'm fine" he said in a bit of a whisper. "Well then who would like to go next?" she asked sweetly. Hermione stepped forward. "Very good then, step forward and remember, focus on your target(with these words she gave a gentle look at Ron, which caused him to blush) and make it a nice smooth. Hermione stepped up where Ron and Harry previously did. She seemed much more confident then the boys had been. "Binkinus aparatus!" she did the wand movement and Ron had flinched expecting a loud crack but no sound. They all looked to Hermione who had lost her composure "Binkius aparatus!" she cried, once again, nothing. For the third time she screamed the incantation and for the third time nothing. She burst into tears. "'Mione its ok, don't worry about it!" Ron exclaimed. Ginny rushed over and tried to comfort Hermione whose face was buried in her hands.  
"Hermione it's all right, many of my students don't do nearly as well as Harry or Ron." Brianna said trying to make Hermione feel better. Ron hid his grin, he'd never done anything better then Harry, never mind most of a teachers class. After she calmed down a bit it was Ginny's turn. "Okay Ginny, just empty your mind, and close your eyes and envision yourself in that box. "Okay" Ginny said with a feeble smile.  
"Binkinkus apartus" Ginny said calmly and with that she gave a flick of her wand smoothly, up, then down. With a loud crack she disappeared for a short moment and ten with out warning she reappeared in none other than the square! "Ginny! How'd you do that!?" Ron said bewildered. "Fred and George showed me how to last year and I did errands around the house and they would pay me" she said. Ron's jaw dropped. "That is extremely risky, you could have really hurt yourself, I will admit Fred and George were one of the best classes I ever taught, if it had been any one else I would be more worried than I already am but still...they should not have done that." Brianna said but you could still hear the amazement in her voice.  
"They never showed me! What the hell is that about?" Ron said fuming with anger. "Oh well, that's good for you Gin, congrats" Ron said supportively. "Well, that'll be all guy's I'll see you tomorrow, you guy did great. Hermione, can I talk to you for a quick moment?" Hermione nodded knowing what this was about, followed Brianna to the desk. "Harry, do you wanna go check out Fred and Georges shop?" Ron asked. "YEA!" Harry said excitedly. "I completely forgot about it. Where is it anyway, I wanna see if my donation was put to good use." Harry said with a laugh.  
"Follow me Fred and George brought me by a few days after school ended" Ron explained. A few minutes later they saw a building by it self, surrounded by a swamp similar to the swamp Fred and George set off in Hogwarts. As Harry and Ron entered the store, they were greeted by Fred, George, and Lee. "Harry old chum, old pal, old money supplier" Fred said with his arm around Harry, they all laughed. They all headed to the back so they could talk. "Well you see Harry, We've figured out how to make that Marauders Map that you have, but we only sell to past and present Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws." George explained. "We refuse service to all Slytherins. We can afford it, we've been raking in tons of business. Gryffindors get discounts, of course." Fred told them.  
"Hey guys how come you taught Ginny how to disapparate and not me or Harry?" Ron asked in a hurt voice.  
"Ron, if you don't act like a complete prat in the next 5 minutes we'll give you something so much better then that." George said with a smirk. "Ginny, can you please excuse us please?" Fred said in a voice didn't really seem like he was asking. Ginny knows to pick her battle and that was not the time, she left with out a fight, but not with out a large pout on her face.  
"Harry, you remember how last summer, Lupin used to tell us about him, Sirius and your Dad being animagus?" George did not mention Peter Pettigrew but neither Harry nor Ron thought it to be an accident. "Yea..." Harry said prodding them to continue. "Well, we've stumbled upon some books that will aid you if you would like to pursue this" Fred said in a completely calm tone "Doesn't that tike years to learn Fred?" George asked like some one you would see in an infomercial. "No George, with the Weasley's book of Secrets and Spells" Fred said in a fake sail's mans voice.  
"This must cost hundreds of gallons!" said George said in a fake out raged voice.  
"Actually, it is on sale to only Weasley's and Potters, and get this, it's for free!" Fred said, "And that is our sale pitch" he finished.  
"Interested? Its perfectly safe me and Fred tried it out ourselves."  
"How'd it turn out?" Ron asked.  
"It killed us Ron. It killed us in a most painful way." Fred said in a serious voice.  
"What do you think you prat it went fine." George said punching Ron in the arm.  
Rob blushed, "I know that, I meant what animals did you turn out to be?" Ron asked trying to redeem himself.  
"Well, I'm a hyena and –." George started.  
"I'm a monkey" Fred finished.  
"How long did it take you guys?" Harry pushed on.  
"Ah, right to the point Mr. Potter, right down to business, good, very good." George said in a business man like manner.  
"Calm down Harry, don't be such a prat we're getting to it, but since you had to draaag it up, it took us 3 months to be able to do it with out wands. What ever you do, tell no one about this until you're finished with your year, then register at the ministry after that do hat ever you want. We are in the middle of getting it deemed 'safe' for the wizarding world. We expect it to be cleared within the decade" George said grimly.  
"They said even if it does clear, we can only sell to those older then 18. That's not to big of a problem, according to Lee, 76% of our clients can pass for 18, an ignored statistic by many other businesses and shamefully so." Fred said with a sigh.  
"And do us a favor while your back at school, give us some advertising, we'll give you a pack of everything we have, but you have to leave messages after everything you use. Not enough students know our address, that stunt we pulled last year, we heard it was retold so many times, people ended up in Knock Turn alley looking for us. Obviously we felt awwwful about it. So, can you do it for us mate?" George asked.  
"Sure guys, how will we get it on the train with out your mum noticing though?" Harry asked enthusiastically. Already taken care of, we left trunk-full of items of this sensitive nature in the third aisle on the far right hand side under the book case. Think you can handle all that information ickle-Ronny?" Fred said noticing Ron had spaced out. After showing them all around the store including Ginny they bid Fred and George a goodbye and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.  
"Hey Hermione, how'd it go with McGonagall?" Harry said as he approached her near the fire. "It went okay, she taught me a spell to help me concentrate, on the acount of my ADD, yea I know I was surprised too but any way, the spell is called 'Ridellenus'." Hermione explained. "Wow Hermione, how is that possible, you always pay attention in class?" Harry said, hardly able to believe it.  
"I've been taking the muggle version of the spell, but this spell requires more concentration than that I suppose."  
"I guess we should be heading up to bed now, more classes in the morning. Night Hermione, night Ron" As Harry was heading up the stairs, he was pretty sure he heard Ron ask "What's ADD?" 


	3. The Relay

"Harry! Harry!" Mrs. Weasley shouted disturbing Harry from his peaceful dreams.  
"Wha-..." Harry said just beginning to stir.  
"O.W.L. results are in" she said with excitement.  
"Ohhhh noooo" Harry groaned miserably as he arose and put his glasses.  
"Here you go Harry" she said as she tossed him his results.  
DADA-O  
Potions-A  
Transfiguration-E  
Charms-E  
Divination-P  
Care of Magical Creatures-O  
History of Magic-A "Harry, with the exception of Divination, which is a crock to begin with, you have excellent grades!" Remus said enthusiastically over Harry's shoulder. Mrs. Weasley gave Remus a scowl, "Harry, you seem to have another piece of parchment attached" she informed him. 'How did I not notice that' he wondered. He shrugged it off and flipped the parchment over.  
  
Dear Mr. Potter, we are pleased to inform you that you  
And several others in your year that did incredibly well  
Will be taking the Advance N.E.W.T. Defense Against  
The Dark Arts. We are also pleased to announce you have  
received the highest O.W.L. In this class since your parents  
time and beyond.  
Thank you and enjoy your holidays,  
Minerva McGonagall.  
"Congratulations Harry!" Remus announced once again over Harry's shoulder. "I'll warn you though, this is a very difficult class, your father, your mother, Sirius and I all took this class in our sixth year as well, it is by far the toughest class you will take in Hogwarts." Remus informed him.  
"Thanks for the pep talk professor" Harry said sarcastically. Remus gave a hearty and appreciating laugh and patted Harry on the shoulder.  
"Let's go down to the mess hall Harry, I'm sure there are some people you may want to share your exam grades with. Harry nodded in anticipation of hearing how he did, compared to Ron and Hermione. He did not have to wait for Hermione for the second the door open he heard a loud thud. Harry looked behind the door and Hermione was sprawled on the ground.  
"Hermione, are you al-." Harry asked worriedly.  
"Fine Harry, just a bit of a spill, O.W.L. scores are in! "Hermione said excitedly. She continued to inform him she got O's and E's on all of her classes with the exception of potions in which she received an A. In return, Harry shared all this grades even his P ("Harry, a P! I know it's a stupid class but still, a P?!").  
"Shall we go and see Ron?" she asked and it was quite obvious she was not asking as she had already begun skipping to his room before Harry answered.  
"Ron! The O.W.L. scores are in! What did you get?????" Hermione asked anxiously.  
"I got a P in potions" Ron gulped. All of a sudden the notice the large smears of black ink on his face.  
"Ron! What happened??" Hermione asked in a very Mrs. Weasley like tone.  
"It turns out, Dumbledore put some sort of charm on it, when you try and change your score by bewitching it, it squirts ink at you until your parents see it. Mum is furious with me." Ron seemed paler than usual even with the black ink smears.  
"I did get one of these though" He said in a considerably cheerier tone as he held up his form of acceptance to the advance N.E.W.T. class.  
"Oh me too," Hermione said as she dug around in her pockets and finally fished it out.  
"Harry, we all know you've got one...Right?" Ron said meekly as he prayed Harry got one so not to upset him. Harry nodded,  
"My letter said that I got the highest grade in D.A.D.A. since "your parents time and beyond."" Harry said gleefully.  
"Well done Harry" Ron complimented him.  
"Harry that's incredible, to think of the hundreds of thousands of people who have taken this test; that you did better then them! I mean I'm not surprised its just that-."  
"Hermione, enough!" Harry and Ron shouted. With that, they headed down to the mess hall where they were greeted by Remus and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.  
"Harry, Ron, Hermione, Molly has just informed me you have all gotten into the advance N.E.W.T. class, congratulations!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed supportively.  
"Thank you", they all said in return.  
"Who else do you think made it into this class?" Harry asked them. Harry looked to both Hermione and Ron, Hermione shrugged.  
"Idwnoibtotsoplgtn" Ron mumbled, bits of bacon spewing out with each bite. Ron could tell by the baffled expressions they did not understand him.  
"I said, 'I don't know, I bet lots of people got in" Ron said in a tone like they were thick for not understanding.  
"Anyway, shall we go to your apparation lessons?" Mr. Weasley asked. They all nodded in agreement and with that they started towards the door with out even noticing Ginny joining them.  
"Hey Gin" Ron said in a bright voice. Hermione and Harry greeted her as well.  
"I'll be in your D.A.D.A. class next year", she said casually, she could no longer conceal her joy as she allowed the grin to dance with her lips and turn the corners to the sky.  
"Holy shit!" Ron muttered after 1 minute of gawking.  
"Ronald Weasley! If I ever hear you say something to that caliber again, you will not being leaving your room until your 40!" Mrs. Weasley said infuriated, even Mr. Weasley seemed pretty intimidated by the shouting. Harry turned to Ron and Ron was trembling in fear, and was silent almost the entire way to McGonagall's while Ginny, Hermione, and Harry spoke excitedly about it.  
"That's brilliant Gin! I'm sure you'll be the only 5th year in the class!" Harry said enthusiastically.  
"Really Ginny, I'm sure this is the first time that there will be a fifth year in this class. I bet you that many of the people from D.A. we'll have gotten in to that class, but surely not many 5th years at all!" Hermione said in awe.  
"Luna got in as well she sent me an owl this morning." Ginny said just as calm as when she announced her being in the class.  
"That must be it, I'm sure everyone who came to the Department of Mysteries will be there" Hermione said matter-of-factly.  
"Anyway Harry have u thought about your N.E.W.T. classes next year? I'm taking all N.E.W.T. classes except Arithmancy and Muggle studies. I had to fight myself tooth and nail to not take those classes at that high of a level but my other classes will prove to be more useful and more time consuming." Hermione informed him. 'That's Hermione all right, fighting her self "tooth and nail" for 2 classes' Harry thought.  
"We'll be back to pick you up in 2 and a half hours" Remus said jerking Harry from his thoughts. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all strolled into the shop while Ginny did a surprisingly accurate impression of Ron being yelled at by Mrs. Weasley. Harry had to stifle his laughs so not to upset Ron, whose ears were turning the deepest shade of red Harry thought possible.  
"I wonder where Miss McGonagall is" Ginny pondered aloud.  
"Right here, sorry about that I was in storage, any way call me Brianna, leave McGonagall to my mother" she said with her normal sweet smile.  
"Okay then shall we begin, Hermione, don't forget to cast the spell I showed you last night before you try right?" Hermione nodded.  
"Okay, Ginny, step forward please, now, try and apparate to the bow we worked with yesterday, with out using your wand, you may still say the incantation though, and by the way, all of you, congratulations on your Advance N.E.W.T. class, my mother sent me an owl about it I'm quite impressed. Right then Ginny, step up," Ginny did so as Hermione held her wand.  
"Binkinus apparatus" Ginny recited, and with a loud crack she disappeared and reappeared about 30 feet from where she originally stood, leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione with stunned and impressed looks on their faces.  
"Very good Ginny, now apparate to the next square closest to you," Ginny did as she was told, she said the incantation, and with another crack, she reappeared in that square. "Good girl; now apparate back here, to where you started, this time, don't use the incantation. Ginny closed her eyes, and the look of calmness and tranquility changed to struggle and frustration.  
"I can't" she said almost out of breath, then said the spell and reappeared to her starting point with a look of defeat on her face.  
"Ginny, how did it feel trying it without a wand?" Brianna asked.  
"It...It felt like I was try to...get out of body and run here, but it was like there was an invisible shield that I couldn't...penetrate." Ginny said getting progressively quieter until the word 'penetrate' was a mere whisper.  
"Well explained, this is because, you imagined your self walking there yes, in your mind has that been how you've been doing this?" Brianna asked curiously. Ginny nodded looking like she was about to cry.  
"That will work fine with using the spell, a spell will do what it's told, what it was created to do. Translating this in to casting a spell with out words is different. You need to think the words; you need to see it happen in your mind. This spell it exactly like a muscle; you need to work it, Ginny, that wall requires muscle of the spell, it was like you trying to lift a tree trunk the muggle way. She informed them as she paced the room.  
"Now everyone line up in front of a different column" she instructed. They all did as they were told.  
"Now do what we did yesterday, use your wands and incantations 5 times, there and back counts as 1 time. Then, try its with out your wands, if that gets easy, try without the words. I don't believe that any one will get that far today" she said sweetly. Over the next hour, Hermione felt much more confident in her casting of this spell then she had the previous day. Every once and a while, Brianna would shout encouraging phrases such as 'Very good!' and "that a boy/girl'.  
"Now I think we will have some fun. We are going to have a relay. First, you must apparate to the First Square in your column, then the next, then and so on until you reach the final square, at which point u will reverse the process. The first person to finish will get a special treat" She said mysteriously. "Alright, on my whistle, three, two, one" the seconds the word 'one left her lips he blew the whistle. Hermione was on Ginny's coat tails while Ron was having trouble and swearing between each attempt. Harry was less then a second behind Hermione when he hit the last box 'I've almost got it' was his only thought, mid-way back he'd surpassed Hermione but was still not within the reach of Ginny, she had finished. With the exception of Ron, no one felt too bad about how they'd done.  
"Brianna, how come I did so lousy during the relay compared to what I doing earlier? Ron asked.  
"Apparating with speed and regular apparating, you need to be able to get a major amount of concentration. Ginny, I assume while doing those "errands" for your brothers you had to do them quite quickly on occasions" Ginny nodded.  
""Your test will be on several factors. First, your speed, how fast you can apparate. Second, apparating some where miles away without injury to your self or others, finally, it will be precision apparating, these boxes you've been going to and form are about 8 ft by 8 ft, on the test, what you will need to land on are squares about 3 ft by 3ft. We will work on a different one of these every day after an initial 30 minute practice of just going box to box as we did today. Have a nice night, get some sleep, your bodies need rest to do this day after day especially in the beginning." On that last note, she apparated her self out of the room and left her 4 pupils.  
"If we all work hard enough I'm sure we'll pass" Hermione said brightly.  
"Ron, your mom shouldn't be here for another half an hour, I'll treat everyone to some ice cream" Harry said happily, at first Ron was apprehensive but when everyone else agreed he agreed as well. Harry ordered a vanilla ice cream-Sunday topped with Berty-Botts-Every-Flavored Beans. After the first few bites he ended up eating around them then just picking them off, they all assumed Harry ate a few not so pleasant flavored beans. Ginny had fire ice cream, it was enchanted with a flame that would make the ice cream hot but keep it frozen, and she seemed to be enjoying it. Hermione got a strawberry ice cream cone, and Ron got an ice cream cone of chocolate frogs all frozen together covered in crumbs of cauldron cakes, and by the looks of it your weren't sure if he just threw it at his mouth or ate it.  
That night Harry and Ron laid awake reading the book Fred and George gave them. 'You must cast the spell of your inner animal'  
"Is it just me, or does that sound like an advertisement for some kind of cologne?" Ron asked Harry, they both shrugged and continued to read. 'The words to view the inner animal of yourself are 'Buscar la animales', when the spell is cast, you will see a cloud of smoke, inside this cloud will be your animal, which only you can see.'  
"Okay Harry, give it a go" Ron said nervously.  
"Buscar la animales" Harry said in a voice, bold enough t be effective, but quit enough to wake others. Wisps of smoking began flowing out of his wand until they gathered in a median between the roof and floor. Inside this cloud of smoke, Harry saw a lion! But next to the lion, he also saw...a...pronged deer(a male deer for those who don't know)  
"Bloody hell Ron!" Harry shouted  
"Harry shut up!" Ron urged.  
"I have two animals, Ron, two!" Harry said excitedly.  
"Harry, you're a Bi-animagus, that's rare, there only about 7 in the world!" Ron said in awe.  
"What are you?" Ron asked.  
"I'm a lion which I guess is from being an heir of Gryffindor, and also...also...I'm prongs" Harry choked  
"Wicked Harry! That cool let me have a go!" Ron said in excitement. Ron repeated the same steps as Harry did before and Harry saw Ron stare into the cloud like he was entranced. Seconds later Ron snapped out of it.  
"I'm one too! I'm one too!" Ron said jumping around.  
"Ron, shut up!" Harry said listening for any stirred movement in the walls around.  
"I'm a phoenix! Can you believe it Harry, a phoenix! Also I'm a wolf! This is the happiest day of my life! I still can't get over it Harry, a phoenix!" Ron said happily, and Harry felt happy as well.  
"Can you believe it, we're both Bi-animagus it's insane, I can't believe it I mean that means us two, 16 year old students make up a large percentage of the bi-animagus population. It's incredible!" Ron said enthusiastically. Harry agreed. 'I need to ask Dumbledore about this there is definitely something strange about this' Harry thought making a mental note.  
"We better get some sleep though Harry, we have apparation lessons again tomorrow. G' night Harry" Ron said and with that the two alleged Bi- animagus went wearily in to the silent night.  
"Harry! Harry! Harry! Wake up!" Ron screamed. "Someone in the order has been killed!" Hermione cried. 


	4. Beyond the Veil

"Ugg, what the hell just happened to me?" a gaunt faced man said as he picked him self off the dusty ground.  
"Hello there sir how are you feeling?" an old cheerful man asked him.  
"Where in the hell am I?" the man questioned him rather rudely.  
"You are in the honorable life of beyond the veil, sir" the odl man said, his cheery tone still not wavering.  
"If you will please tell me your name we can speed up the process of getting you out of here" The man in formed him.  
"The veil? What the hell is that, any way, my name is Sirius A. Black." Sirius said eager to hear more about the veil.  
"And how did you die Sirius A. Black?" the man asked completely ignoring Sirius' question.  
"Die, what the hell are you talking about die? I'm not dead! That bitch of a cousin of mine hit me with a stunning spell and I fell!" Sirius said fuming.  
"I'M NOT DEAD" he repeated  
"Are you quite sure it was not a killing spell, and then in honor of your most noble deeds?" The man said kindly.  
"Noble?" Sirius snorted.  
"What are you talking about? What 'noble deed'?" Sirius asked interested.  
"You...mean to tell me you...have done nothing to earn you a place in the most honorable life beyond the veil??" The old man said disbelievingly.  
"What the hell is this 'life beyond the veil' crap?" Sirius said angrily.  
"This 'crap' as you so ineloquently put it, is where wizards or witches who died go if they've done something extremely noble during their life." The old man said not nearly as polite as when Sirius first arrived.  
"What sort of noble deed would get you here?" Sirius asked curiously.  
"Self sacrifice for the good of another person/s, a medical discovery curing many people, vanquishing evil, things like that" the man said losing every graceful and kind quality he had.  
"I must go see the creator" the man gave a very fake and insincere bow and left before Sirius could ask any other questions. Sirius, not paying attention to detail previously, noticed that the old man was standing in front of a white and gold podium, with a large and dusty book, completely contradicting the podium in which it stood. Not able to contain his curiosity he made his way to the podium and turned through the pages. It seemed to be an address book. The weird part about it was, the addresses he was reading, did not exact, and the people those addresses belonged to, were dead. Then it occurred to him, these people have homes in this life.  
"Lilly and James" he whispered as his pulse quickened. He began turning pages like mad looking for the last name Potter. Finally he found it 'Potter, Lilly, Potter, James; Residence: Block E, House 5. Sirius tore out the section of the page with their address and went in the direction of the old man full sprint. He saw signs, white boards with gold inscriptions. First he saw a sign for block A. Continuing along he found Block B. He continued this pursuit until he reached a sign for Block E, keep in mind he sprinted the entire way, hundred meters from sign to sign and Sirius was no muggle runner.  
He took a deep breath and turned down the lane leading to Lilly and James' house. He looked to his left; he saw build 32, to his right, building 9. He continued running down this lane seeing no pattern of numbers after 15 minutes of search he came to building 5. He walked slowly to their door , trying to decide what to say to his best friend who had had not seen in 16 years. He took a long, deep breath, and then he knocked once, twice, and finally a third time.  
"Who is it?" he heard James' voice from behind the door.  
"Padfoot" he announced strongly with a large grin upon his face.  
"Padf-..." James started and the door swung open.  
"Sirius! Oh my god Sirius!" James said tearfully as he embraced Sirius in a hug.  
"What's Wrong James?" Lilly asked poking her head though the door on the opposite end of the room.  
"Sirius, oh lord Sirius its great to see you!" Lilly screamed rushing across the room and joining the hug.  
"Lilly, James, I never thought I'd see you again" Sirius sobbed. After an hour of this, they all calmed down...slightly.  
"How'd you die Sirius? Was it that rat bastard Voldemort?" James said angrily.  
"I'm not dead, I fell through the veil, that old bat at the podium is not quite happy about it Prongs." Sirius informed.  
"How's Harry? Is he doing well in school? What's he like, does he look like James or I?" Lilly said anxiously.  
"His a spitting image of James." Sirius announced proudly. Telling by Lilly's look she was a bit sad by this.  
"No one can mistake his eyes though Lilly. It is quite obvious he has your eyes." Lilly instantly cheered up.  
"He has a love for quiditch James, I think he'd give you a run for your money at seeker." Sirius laughed.  
"That's my boy." James said proudly.  
"Your son is the bravest of his age besides his friends. He is partly the reason I'm here. For the past few months, Harry has been seeing some things threw Voldemorts eyes, such as an attack on his friends father. Voldemort must have realized this because he made Harry think they had and were torturing me near the prophecy involving him and Voldemort, Harry and a few people who were in the D.A.; the Ministry interfered with their defense against dark arts class and pretty much ruined the purpose of it., Harry started this club to teach students who wanted to learn how to defend themselves properly, they had to do it all under the nose of the Ministry, it's quite impressive.  
"When they arrived at the department of secrets sure enough no one was there but Harry found the prophecy, out of no where, Lucious Malfoy, and several other Death eaters showed up demanding Harry hand over the prophecy, Harry was too smart for that. Their was quite a bit of a struggle and fighting, in the end I was dueling with my cousin Bellatrix Lestange. She hit me with a stunner and knocked me through the veil."  
"How did you know that Harry survived the attack that killed you both?" Sirius asked meekly.  
"When you die, your soul lingers for a bit, we saw Voldemorts destruction and Harry's continued life. We are still puzzled by how he survived, we just had to assume it had to do with the prophecy." James explained.  
"So Harry has been living with you since we've been umm indisposed, right?" Lilly said worriedly.  
"Well, um, no, until Harry was 13, I was in Azkaban" Sirius said.  
"No", Lilly gasped.  
"What the hell for? What were the charges?" James said unsettled.  
"They thought I betrayed you, and that I killed the bastard who really betrayed you, and i almost did, before he blew apart the street, killing 12 muggles, and making it look like I killed them." Sirius said sternly.  
"That rat-bastard. That mother-."  
"Sirius, how's Remus doing?" James asked.  
"He's doing –." The door flew open, an old man walked though followed by the old man Sirius had already become acquainted with.  
"There you are! I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Potter for this man bothering you. Mr. Black, you've caused enough damage, now please, follow me if you ever hope to go back to your realm." The new old man said.  
"Umm, well, I'd like to stay here with James and Lilly." Sirius said quietly.  
"No Sirius, I love you, but you belong back on earth, with Harry, you must help the fight, you will be here in time my old friend, in time" James said gloomily.  
"I understand James" Sirius nodded gloomily, he gave both James and Lilly and a hug and followed the man sobbing the whole way.  
Finally, they reached a door, "Percivus, please wait here." The new old man said, the other man nodded, and stopped where he stood. As Sirius and the man took a seat, the man started talking.  
"Hundreds of years ago, before there was a Ministry of Magic, there was a stone room by itself, with only a veil inside. There was a very old man, who would stand in the room, offering advice, one day he told a man that this veil is a life for those who no longer lived. People may bring dead wizards and witches to the veil, and offer their soul to the veil so their soul may live again in another realm. For a century, people would bring dead to this place. As this century died, terrible things happened, people forgot about the veil, everyone who knew about the veil died and from then, no one knew about the veil, except one person." The man said.  
"Who knew about the veil?" Sirius said politely thinking this man was surely not some one he should upset.  
"Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." The man said.  
"For the past few years, he has been taking the bodies of the victims of Voldemort, and bringing them here." He said. Sirius nodded in understanding.  
"Now, you can not live among the dead, you must be returned to the world of the mortal, do you understand?" Sirius nodded once again.  
"It is now time for you to return, you will remember nothing of your being here." With that Sirius blacked out and awoke in a hospital bed.  
"Where-where am I?" Sirius murmured. 


	5. The Reuniting of Moony and Padfoot

"Who?", Harry asked praying it was not some one he knew.  
"Emmeline Vance! She used to be at Grimauld place all the time" Hermione sobbed and buried her face into Ron's chest, a look of panic struck his face.  
"How'd it happen?" Harry asked as he put on his glasses.  
"She-they-the death-killing-torture," is all Hermione could say in between sobs.  
"She was on duty at a post for the Order and 5 death eaters stormed in hoping to find more then one guard, they tortured her with the crutaicous curse for an hour, finally, they just killed her" Ron sad softly praying not to upset Hermione any more than already.  
"Um, can you all get out for a second, I need to erm, change." Harry asked. Hermione nodded with her tear glistening face and Ron escorted her out. As Harry got dressed, the idea of those animals torturing from what Harry saw a kind woman. He quickly vanished the thought from his mind and head down stairs. When he arrived at the table with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, Hermione and Ginny were jabbering about the advance N.E.W.T. class.  
"She seems quite happier" Harry thought aloud.  
"I cast a cheering charm on her, I feel awful about Mrs. Vance, but Hermione, whew..." Ron exclaimed.  
"Mr. Weasley, where's Professor Lupin? I didn't hear him come in last night." Harry asked.  
"Last night was a full moon; Remus will not be here for a few days so he can take care of himself." Harry nodded understandably.  
"Everyone ready to go to your class?," Mr. Weasley asked enthusiastically. With a strong yes from everyone they were off. There was not much talking on the way there; it seemed Ron's cheering charm had begun to wear off because Hermione was returning to a lesser form of her previous state.  
"Well kid's, I'll be back in 2 and a half hours." Mr. Weasley said as he headed in the direction of the twins store.  
"Hey guys!" Brianna said happily.  
"Shall we begin?" She more instructed than asked. For the next half an hour they repeated what they did the day before. By the end of that half hour Ginny could go with out using any words, only it was a bit of a struggle.  
"Okay, today, we will be working on apparating in an area far away, which you can not see." She explained.  
"Your target will be to your rooms at the Leaky Cauldron. When you apparate to farther distances, it takes longer for you to get there, so you need to keep in mind your destination longer" she told them.  
"I suggest you use both your wands and the spell aloud the first time, who would like to go first, ahh, yes Ron come on forward. Ron did so and breathed in deeply, and out again. "Binkinus aparatus" Ron shouted, he lingered for a slight movement and once again, Crack! He was gone. 10 minutes later Ron reappeared smelling of Fire-whiskey.  
"Ron what happened!" Brianna inquired.  
"Heh, I apparated onto the pub counter in Leaky Cauldron." Ron chuckled.  
"That's very impressive Ron, on your first try you came very close, very good!" she announced.  
"Next? Okay Ginny step right up and give it a go!" Brianna said enthusiastically. Ginny repeated the same steps as Ron, except after she disappeared, she returned only 3 minutes after.  
"So, Ginny, where did you land?" Brianna asked.  
"On my bed," Ginny informed her.  
"I'm not surprised you're a natural at this Ginny very good, very good indeed. Hermione went next, she returned about 5 minutes after she disappeared looking disgusted.  
"Where did you land?" Brianna asked once again.  
"In the hag's room next to mine's closet" Hermione said with a pained expression.  
"That is some bad luck" Ron snorted. Hermione glared at him and his smile quickly disappeared. Finally, Harry went, less then 2 minutes after he left he returned with almost the same expression as Hermione.  
"Well Harry, where did your little adventure take you?" Brianna asked politely.  
"To the house elves showering quarters" Harry choked. Ron all most died laughing, and Brianna also had a hard time stifling her laughs.  
"That's quite unfor-." She couldn't finish her sentence she too burst out laughing soon, Harry joined them once he got past himself. Hermione looked appalled.  
"That's terrible Harry you must have frightened them!" Hermione squealed this made them all laugh harder even Ginny began laughing and by the end, Hermione was the only one in the room not almost crying from laughter. For the next hour they continued this, after a few more embarrassing appearances they eventually all got it down fine.  
"Relay time, this time we'll do teams" Brianna announced cheerfully.  
"Shall we make it battle of the sexes or Weasley's against Harry and Hermione?" Brianna surveyed.  
"Battle of the sexes it is so Ron, Harry, you line up here, Ginny, Hermione you line up here." She pointed out to columns of boxes, 5 ft in between each box, these boxes were about 2 by 2 ft small than they ones from the other day and there were 8 boxes in each column.  
"Today, the rules will be pretty much the same; the first racers from each team will go box to box to box etc until they reach the end, then you go in reverse, it will be different because I'm sure you've noticed the boxes are a bit smaller, so instead of envisioning the box, u need to see the middle of the box, if u land out side the box, u must go back one and continue, does everyone understand?" they all nodded. To start it off, Harry and Ginny would be going head to head.  
"Go on 3! 1...2...3" and with the pronunciation of 3, they were off. For the first few squares, they were neck, but on the 5th square Ginny landed out side of her box and went back 1 box.  
  
1 HOUR LATER  
"What the hell?" Harry said dead in his tracks in front of the Leaky Cauldron.  
"How did I get here, a few seconds ago we were relaying and Ginny just got sent back a square!" Harry said worriedly.  
"Harry...that was like an hour ago, you completely smoked her, you were going wicked fast man, faster then anyone I've ever seen someone apparate, we beat them buy literally about a minute. Brianna said you were the fastest student she'd ever had, the look on her face was priceless." Ron explained.  
"You don't remember that Harry? I mean you did seem a bit...I guess you would call it distant, but it wasn't that noticeable" Hermione said nervously.  
"You should tell Dumbledore right away, Harry, in my first year, when You-know-who possessed me, I would not remember large portions of time." Ginny piped in gloomily. That thought hadn't occurred to Harry. 'It's him. I know it is. What else could it be?' Harry thought. That thought haunted his dreams that night, he dreamt of horrible reasons why Voldemort would possess, horrible uses he could put Harry up to while un aware of his actions.  
That morning, the first thing he did was wake Hedwig and give her a letter addressed to Dumbledore.  
'Dear Dumbledore,  
I need to speak with you, it is extremely important, I will say why  
In the letter incase of interception, please, hurry.  
Sincerely,  
Harry James Potter.  
"Hedwig, take this to Dumbledore quickly, ok girl?" he instructed his bird as he fed her an owl treat.  
As he began walking down the stairs he toppled over Ron and Hermione in full sprint going up the stairs, when the three arose from their fall at the bottom of the staircase, neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to be affected.  
"Harry! It's magnificent! Splendid! Unbelievable! Miraculous! Fan-."  
"What is she talking about Ron?" Harry interrupted before Hermione could finish.  
"It's Sirius!" Ron said as excitedly as Hermione.  
"He's alive! He's in St. Mungo's right now! Dad is going to take us to see him at noon! Can you believe it Harry?? Can you believe it??" Ron said running short of breath near the end. 'Can it be? Is it possible? Can he be alive? Is this a cruel dream, because if it is I swear...?' Harry thought.  
"It's true Harry, it's true!" a teary eyed Remus joined in. Harry embraced Remus in a hug.  
"Why can't we go now?" Harry pleaded.  
"The medi-witches are running tests on him trying to learn more about the veil, also making sure he's not carrying any diseases back from the veil, we'll be able to see him soon enough though, for now, just concentrate on your apparation lessons, your test is in three days, pay attention and work hard" Remus choked, his face glistening with tears of joy.  
"Good morning Harry! That is excellent news about Sirius, really superb!" Brianna greeted him. After their routine half an hour of warm up, they were all able to apparate with out words, Ron especially ecstatic about it. Today's lesson was doing what they had already done, only they weren't aloud to use words or wand movements.  
Harry felt like this lesson would never end, but after 2 hours dragged by, Harry almost sprinted out of the shop to meet Remus half way on his way to pick them up.  
"Ready to go are we, Harry?" Remus asked trying to mask his anticipation, but Harry could tell, he was just as anxious as Harry. Harry had forgotten the others remained at the shop so the ventured back to McGonagall's to get Ron, Hermione and Ginny.  
"Mr. Lupin, I presume you will be going to St. Mungo's immediately?" Brianna asked in a very stiff and rigid tone Harry had never heard her use.  
"Yes that is in fact true" Remus retorted in an equally stiff and rigid tone.  
"Well then, I believe it would be good practice for the children to apparate there" she explained her tone unwavering.  
"Thank you for the suggestion Miss McGonagall." Lupin said in an empty tone. As they were walking away, Harry saw a pained expression on Remus' face.  
"What was that all about professor?" Hermione asked most curiusoly.  
"Old girlfriend" he muttered.  
"Everyone ready? Ok then wands out, yes I know Ron, very unfashionable, but far less unfashionable then having only your leg to greet Sirius with and the rest of you rolling down Diagon Alley" Ron's ears turned magenta and his facial expression quickly changed.  
"I'll go last, Harry, you go first." Remus instructed, and with that, one by one they all disappeared and reappeared right in fornt of St. Mungo's. They all seemed out of breath due to that was the longest apparation they'd ever done, though it was flawless, they were extremely tired. They approached an automated box Harry recalled seeing when they came to visit Mr. Weasley when he was bitten by Voldemorts snake. This reminded Harry,  
"Remus, where's everyone else, surely we're not the only ones from the order that wan to visit Sirius?" Harry inquired, almost angry the entire wizarding world wasn't trying to break down the door to see Sirius.  
"Order business Harry, that all I can say, but I'm sure they will come and see him, we're not the only ones who love him Harry" Remus smiled.  
"Who are you here to visit?" the box asked in an unfaltering tone.  
"Sirius Black" Remus said almost doubling over in joy and excitement, he looked down at Harry, who had the most joyous face seen on this earth.  
"That will be the third floor, have a nice day!" the box said unenthusiastically. With that the door opened and they strode into the lobby in search of the stairs, after about 3 minutes of intense search, they found them, Harry immediately went into a full sprint up the stairs, and to his surprise, Remus was right next to him, which was really unlike Remus but Harry supposed he made an exception for the resurrection of his supposed dead friends.  
By the time they reached their destination on the hellishly long stair case they were panting but didn't care as they continued through the doors, but as they noticed they strange looks they were receiving they slowed down to a walking pace. All of a sudden Remus remembered, he hadn't an idea in hell which room was Sirius' and if his memory was correct, there were about 2 hundred rooms on the floor, so he stopped to ask a doctor.  
"Excuse me sir, but can you please direct me to Mr. Sirius Black's room?" Remus asked courteously but Harry knew that tone and he knew it couldn't be farther from sincere but he didn't really care. As the man pointed in the direction and said the room number they were off once again in a light jog so not to run over any little old witches or feeble old wizards. Then the reached it, Sirius, room.  
"Finally!" Harry said exasperatedly. With a deep breath, Harry looked up at Remus who had the expression that if Harry didn't open the door that instant, Remus might break it down. Harry sensed this and opened the door quickly  
"Sirius!" Harry said as he rushed over and gave his godfather a hug.  
"What's your problem Harry, you too Remus, I've been gone for what, 4 days?" Sirius said confused.  
"4 days? 4 days? You must be kidding me Padfoot, it's been over 4 weeks old friend!" Remus snorted embracing his old friend when he rose from his cot.  
"Oh, those damn medi-witches just did all these tests, pokes and prods, they have confirmed my suspicions" he said gloomily.  
"What is it Sirius?" Harry gasped.  
"They have no idea in hell what they're talking about" he laughed.  
"So what's been happening since I've been umm, absent?" Sirius asked tiredly as he plopped back down on to his cot. Harry began to explain about his apparation lessons, his O.W.L. marks, Emmeline Vance, and when he started saying something about Fudge, Sirius interjected.  
"What a prick that Fudge is! Do you believe he was here today and tried to take me to Azkaban! I guess he's trying to do anything he can to prove himself worthy and I guess though my names been cleared, thanks to Dumbledore's persuasion, he still feels me to be a threat." Sirius snorted with disdain.  
"Are you serious?? Next time I transform I'll be sure to try it around that bastard Fudge!!" Remus said fumingly.  
"Ahh, old Moony, always on the up and up, eh Harry?" Sirius laughed.  
"So when can you leave Sirius?" Harry asked inquisitively.  
"They say I'm free to go, but mind if we stop at Ollivander's first? My wand didn't seem to make it back from where ever I came from. "Sirius asked thoughtfully.  
"Of course Sirius, but first, there are some others who'd like to say hello, come on in guys," with that cue, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all walked in single fil, Harry had completely forgot they were here, they all shared some sort of kind sentiment with Sirius, especially Hermione, who sobbed into an extremely uncomfortable Sirius Black's chest, which caused the rest of his visitors to laugh.  
"Well, if we want to get you a wand, we better hurry up, the shop closes in 15 minutes, shall we apparate?" Remus asked.  
"Sounds good, I'd like to see how these guys do anyway" Sirius winked at Harry, and with that, Harry and Ron apparated, and Ginny and Hermione followed in suit.  
"They grow up fast don't they Moony?" and before Remus could respond, Sirius was gone with a loud crack.  
"Where's Ron Harry?" They all asked.  
"I don't" Harry was suddenly interrupted by loud crashes and bangs across the street.  
"Sorry! So sorry it was an accident" They could hear Ron's voice tremble during his apologies and they all laughed as Ron came out smelling distinctly like once again, Fire-whiskey.  
"Damn, mum flipped out last time when I came home smelling like this, she wouldn't even let me or Ginny explain, she's going to murder me" Ron said dreadfully, causing them to laugh even harder.  
"Wait a minute, Remus isn't here either, what's taking him so long?" Sirius said suddenly aware of his friends absence. Before they could ponder more there was another loud crack.  
"Thanks guys, I've just been, as the muggles say, torn a new one, the St. Mungo's director just gave me the loudest, angriest, lecture I've seen or heard of about the dangers of apparating around the frail and feeble." Remus said, obviously mad but calming down quickly. Everyone stifled their laughs because they knew that would result in a severe tong lashing.  
"Anyway, too the wand shop we go!" Remus said, trying to forget that ordeal and move on.  
"Ah, Mr. Black, I wondered whether I'd be seeing you again, well, shall we get started?" Mr. Ollivander said, all of this with his back turned to the door.  
"Good to see you Mr. Ollivander, it brings back memories of my first time here" Sirius said reminiscing.  
"How many times do you think you've said that to me in this store in pursuit of a replacement wand Mr. Black?" Mr. Ollivander said some what agitated.  
"This will be lucky number 8" Sirius said cheerily, taking note of the wands sales men's agitation.  
"Well, please try and take better care, will you?" Ollivander said coolly. Sirius gave a nod to Mr. Ollivander and a wink to the rest of them.  
"Well then, shall we pick you a winner as they say?" Mr. Ollivander said. When they found a wand that suited Sirius Mr. Ollivander gave an eerie smirk.  
"Mr. Black, this wand contains the fang of a werewolf. That exact werewolf is in the room with us." He said dryly.  
"Moony, I never knew you were giving your teeth to the werewolf tooth fairy!" Sirius said, pretending to be astonished. Remus gave a sarcastic laugh and said:  
"I bet you also didn't know that the tooth of a werewolf and the tooth of a vampire in wands is a very powerful combination" Remus smiled to himself approvingly.  
"Actually professor, for the two to be potent with one another, the plant of wolfs bane must be added to the mix" Hermione added. Lupin pretended not to hear a word of it.  
"Anyway, we better head back to Grimauld place, it's getting dark, and I'm damn well tired" Remus said with a yawn. Harry agreed, anxious to get back to the old musty house.  
"We'll have to cook ourselves, Molly and Arthur are out on order business" Remus said gloomily.  
"That's ok, mom has been teaching me how to cook lately" Ginny said happy to offer her assistance.  
"Well that is that than" Sirius laughed patting her on the head softly. With a bit more light conversation they all agreed apparating would be easiest. They all apparated, this time with out flaw, at the end of the street the house laid upon. They all walked down the street, Harry and Sirius enchanting a bush to sing "Blow the Man Down" Which was almost immediately put a stop to by Hermione. After this, Sirius enchanted a pine cone to hit Harry in the back, this started an all out pine cone war, after 10 minutes of pine cones flying across the street they continued to 12 Grimauld place. When they reached the house they saw the most vile thing many of them had see, there, from the large oak tree in the yard, hung the body of 5 people, in the middle, Emmeline Vance, on both side wha they assumed were muggles.  
"Oh my god!" Hermione cried.  
"Glad to have you back cousin black." A woman smirked as she stepped from behind the tree accompanied by Lucius Malfoy and another death eater.  
"The dog has risen from the grave" Lucius Malfoy sneered. 


	6. A Message from Malfoy

With the amount of chaos that they had all been through they didn't waste time panicking, they all almost in unity grabbed there wands and aimed them, read to cast. Moments after Hermione drew her wand, she apparated. Everyone was shocked, but they didn't have time to contemplate.  
"Ah, figures, the mud-blood runs, that's what you four should have done as well." Lucious grinned. With no warning, Ginny apparated as well.  
"Fours a charm isn't it Moony" Sirius said happily.  
"Sure is Pad foot", Remus agreed.  
"Majora day-gadum" Harry shouted coolly, with this he picked up an unknown death eater , and following the motions of his wands, slammed on the ground over and over again for about 15 seconds, very hard. Seven more death eaters appeared, then out of know where, Lucious' head disappeared all together, and then Bellatrix was hit by a bat-bogey hex. Sirius gave a large laugh but this was snuffed when he was hit by a stunning spell which sent him flying back, in turn, Harry cast something back at the sender.  
"Insci severus!" he shouted calmly, with that, the death eaters ribbons were torn to ribbons, leaving him with about ten very deep wounds.  
From the window of the manor, where Ginny and Hermione were casting spells from, Hermione saw this and was amazed "That's ancient magic Ginny!" she gasped.  
"Stupefy!" Ron shouted, a brilliant streak of red flew out of his wand sending Bellatrix into the tree she stepped from. Malfoy's body still walked around seeming quite confused.  
"Binkinus Aparati" Harry said annoyingly calm, but with those words, all of a sudden, 3 death eaters disapparated with a loud crack, there were only a few left standing, one of which was headless.  
"Remidus buscaste" Sirius said, wand pointing at a very upset Bellatrix Lestrange.  
"Ahhh!" she shrieked  
"Some one help me!!" She cried.  
"Illusion spell haha" Sirius laughed triumphantly. Finally, Lucious' head reappeared. Before he had time to cast a spell, Harry got him first.  
"Majora day-gadum" He said again, this time instead of slamming on to the ground, Harry gave a flick of his wand, sending Lucious flying at least a mile into the horizon, with that, all death eaters were unconscious, too wounded to fight, or Bellatrixes situation, terrified and huddled under the tree wimpering. Harry then cast a spell, gathering them al around, and tying them up with a thick rope that came out of no where.  
"Take their wands and burn them." Harry said looking out at the horizon where he'd thrown Lucious.  
1 Hour later  
"Where-what-Professor?" Harry mumbled waking from his sleep to see Remus and Sirius sitting around him.  
"Hello, Harry." Remus said.  
"That was some ancient, advanced magic you did today, Harry." Sirius noted.  
"What are you talking about? All I did was bewitch some pine cones, you did it to, we learned that spell first year!" Harry protested, not understanding when he went to bed but that was beside the point.  
"We're talking about the fight today, Harry, with the death eaters." Remus said pacing the room.  
"What death eaters who? Oh my god I remember! And the bodies of those muggles hanging from the tree it was horrible, I-I don't remember what happened after that though." Harry said trying to rack his brain to anything after Seeing Lucious and Bellatrix step from behind the old tree. Nothing. Not a thing came to mind.  
"You...don't remember anything from today?" Sirius asked.  
"Well, I remember seeing Bellatrix and Malfoy come from behind the tree, and then..." Harry choked still racking his brain.  
"Okay Harry, we believe you, I think you have some toher visitors" Sirius grinned while he opened the door through which Hermione, Ron, and Ginny collapsed.  
"Well, then, we'll leave ya to it" and with that Remus and Sirius made the exit.  
"Harry, that was amazing! Those were very complex spells!" Hermione urged.  
"You kicked some ass Harry!" Ron said enthusiastically.  
"Do you really not remember any of it Harry?" Ginny asked.  
"Yes! I thought it Voldemort could be possessing me but today, why would he possess me and kick the life out his beloved followers? Wouldn't he have rather had me curse you guys?" He said searching their faces for answers.  
"Where did you guys go during the fight, I remember you two apparating?" Harry said thankful for remembering something.  
"Well, I apparated to the manor, so I could cast spells on them and they wouldn't know what was happening, and then Ginny apparated after me."  
"You remember the prize I got from the first race in class?" Ginny asked. They nodded.  
"The prize was she told me how to apparate after some one by finding their magical signature, every wizard has their own and it is unique from one another's. I searched for Hermione's because I was curious where she had run, it wasn't like her to shy away, but when I found her signal it made sense, so I went with her, I guess you could call this a really blunt legillamency skill, Brianna said she'd teach us all at the end, but I got it earliest." Ginny said in one breath, and by the end of this breath she seemed like she was going to have a stroke. After about an half an hour more of talking, Ron and Harry left the room to Ron's room.  
"Let's look at what we do next for the animagus book we have" Ron explained.  
'Now that you have identified your animal, you must do research upon it, it's bodily structure, everything about it, also, you must research abit about the human bodily system, this is very important, if you do not know enough about the animal you are transforming into, or enough about the body of yours that you'll be going back to, their could be fatal errors' the book said.  
"Aww" Ron groaned.  
"More reading" Harry groaned and laughed a bit as well.  
"Well, let's see what we do after that part" Ron said obviously wanting to skip over the reading bit.  
'When you've fisnished your research, you must then cast a spell that will create your animal, only it will be in a patronus like form, you must let it get used to you, you cannot instantly control your animal, you must let it know you, in time, you will gain control of it.'  
"That's not too bad", Ron shrugged. Below that paragraph it showed spells how to create, and make your animal disappear, Harry figured this would be pretty important. Ron flipped to the back to find charts and paragraphs of the need information of almost every animal.  
"They don't have a phoenix in here Harry!" Ron said gleefully.  
"And that's a...good thing?" Harry asked in confused tone.  
"That means there so rare Fred and George wouldn't put it into a book because they figured no one would be one!" Ron said in a joyous tone.  
Over the next week, all Ron and Harry did was read up on their animals, and go to 1 more apparation class, and then they had their test their scores were as follows: Ginny-98%, Harry-91%. Ron-90%, and finally, Hermione-83%. Hermione was quite pouty over this. She tried to hide it, act like she was okay with getting the lowest score, but sometimes out of the corner of their eyes, they could see Hermione glaring at Ron. After their last class Harry had apparated to Flourish and Blot's and picked up a scientific book on the anatomy of a phoenix for Ron. Until the day they had to pack Ron and Harry studied these books more than any class they'd ever taken, Hermione was surprised that she hadn't even been reading lately, but the two of them had barely seen the light of day, after 8 days of reading, Ron had created 1 wolf, with phoenix wings, and a phoenix with a wolf snout and tail, and finally, the day before they had to go to kings cross, Ron had created both his wolf and his phoenix perfectly.  
"Harry! Harry look!" Harry looked up form his book to see a white wolf, with no markings, and beautiful phoenix.  
"Wow Ron, that's amazing!" Harry said encouragingly.  
"Now try and pet your wolf, let it, I guess sniff you." Harry suggested. Ron looked almost as white as his wolfs fur as he approached it with an out stretched, trembling hand. At first, the wolf bared its fangs, but as Ron got a bit closer, the wolf warmed up a bit and let Ron touch it.  
"I forgot! It's in patronus form, it's no solid, Ron said, all of a sudden, more comfortable with the wolf, then he began stroking the phoenix from it's neck down its spine gently. After a few more minutes marveling over the animals, Harry tried, this was the first time he did it in front of Ron, when Ron was sleeping, Harry tried it a few times, scared of embarrassing him self, and making a lion with antlers in fornt of Ron, which is exactly what happened, only Ron was in a deep sleep and had know idea. Harry took in a deep breath, and cast the spell, and like Ron, he had created two perfect animals, his lion, and his stag. Immediately, the lion ran towards Harry and settled itself next to him as if protecting him, and the stag was a bit more apprehensive, before Harry could continue, Hermione opened the door, interrupting him.  
"Hermione, close the door!" Ron urged tipping his head to check if one was there.  
"What are you two-, Ah! It's a lion can't you see.!" Hermione yelped, to full of fear to scream.  
"It's ok Hermione, it's patronus form, it's not solid, look!" Harry laughed and made his beautiful animals disappear.  
"If you two don't start explaining, right now, I'm going straight to Mrs. Weasley. In fear of the wrath of Mrs. Weasley, they gave in, explaining everything.  
"That's very dangerous! You could get seriously hurt, but on the other hand, no offense Ron, but, Fred and George are not as good at magic as Harry is, so I suppose, if they can do it fine with out killing them selves. What are you two any way, I guess Harry's a lion, judging form his projection, so what are-,"  
"I'm also a stag Hermione" Harry interrupted, knowing Hermione would be amazed.  
"Harry! You can change into two animals! Only 10 people can do that Harry, icluding you!" Hermione gasped.  
"Actually, there's 11" Ron smiled hinting himself.  
"Who?" Hermione said dumbly.  
"Professor McGonagall said in transfiguration that only 9 living people could apparate and-,"  
"Me you twit, I can do it too!" Ron said cutting her off, offended she wouldn't put two and two together.  
"Ron that's incredible!" Hermione said approvingly.  
"What are you?" She asked curiously.  
"I'm an arctic wolf...and a PHOENIX" He said loudly.  
"Ron! No one has been a phoenix...ever I think!" Hermione said completely over whelmed.  
"Well, can I see what I would be as well?" Hermione said meekly.  
"Of course, just don't tell any one about it due to Fred and Georges, 'delicate situation'." With that they taught her the spell, and a small cloud of smoke flowed out of the tip of her wand and she went into the same trance like Harry and Ron and with in moments she snapped out of it.  
"I'm a-,"  
"We have to go! We're late! Hermione, you were supposed to be getting these two, not stalling them let's go! We'll miss the train!" Mrs. Weasley said in a hurry.  
"I'll tell you on the train" She whispered with a grin as she skipped out of the room. When Ron and Harry arrived down stairs they were greeted by Moody, Tonks, Sirius, Remus, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.  
"Okay Harry, you will be going with me and Sirius" Moody said in a lightest tone he'd ever heard Moody use. "Ron and Ginny, you'll be going with your mother and Tonks. Hermione; you will be going with me" Remus said happily. Everything from the time they left to the time they left to the time they arrived being perfectly safe. When they finished with all their goodbyes, and a very long hug between Sirius and Harry and Sirius said with a wink,  
"See you soon, Harry", it was weird, he was not the only one who said that to him today.  
As they all boarded the train, Ron and Harry could not wait to here what Hermione had to say. When they arrived at their normal compartments, Neville, Luna, Seamus, and Dean were already in deep conversation about the O.W.L. scores and their apparation scores, before Harry and the rest had a chance to sit down, the room swarmed with Slytherins.  
"A message from my father Potter" Draco spat sending Harry flying into the wall. Quickly Neville rose to the occasion before anyone else, with his wand.  
"A message from everyone who thinks your family is a bunch of pussy prats" Neville said, trying to hide his joy. With that he shouted "Gelatinous cuerpo!" With that everything from Malfoy's neck down oozed into jello and the only thing that was solid was his head.  
"You'll pay for that Longbottom, you'll pay." Draco said as Crabbe and Goyle picked him up with great difficulty.  
"Anyone else?" Neville asked he said turning to all the Slytherins in the room, with that, they almost stampeded out.  
"Neville, that was amazing! I've never seen you do anything like that!" Ron said obviously impressed.  
"Well, I broke the wand I'd been using before at the department of mysteries, and I finally got my own as opposed to my dad's wand, I've been able to cast things I never had before its great!" Neville said happily. They all exchanged turns congratulating him and giving him a pat on the back before rain started pouring though the window that Harry's flying torso broke. With a quick fix spell from Hermione, she, Ron, and Harry, all huddled together to discuss her animal.  
"I'm a..."  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. The News

"I'm an owl!" Hermione squealed happily.

"That's cool Hermione" Ron said emptily trying to sound sincere, Hermione didn't notice the lack of sincerity.

"So Neville, how long have you known the difference your wand made?" Hermione asked.

"The second I held it, with my old wand, I picked it up and a faint, blue light shone, but with this wand, when I held it, gold streaks, almost as bright as the sun came out!" Neville said, getting happier and happier as he continued.

"Gran almost cried with happiness, she said that my powers rivaled my dad's, she said this after she saw me in my room one night practicing curses on my new magi-meter." Neville said, hoping they would ask him what it was, and sure enough they did.

"Well, to start, it's the size of rememberall, but when you tap it and say 'metreyo', it turns into something like those scales at muggle carnivals, you take the large hammer and hit the bottom and the ball goes to a height according to the strength, it's the same purpose with this, except with magic" he explained pulling out a small glass ball. They had all noticed that Neville's speech had changed, not drastically but he didn't speak like the Neville they knew before. The next hour of the trip was quite uneventful, but then, for the first time since they were first years, there was an announcement,

"We will be making a stop in fifteen minutes time, do not be startled" Was all the voice said, and for the next fifteen minutes, all they did was guess why they were stopping.

"Maybe we're out of fuel" Seamus suggested.

"The Express doesn't run on fuel!" Hermione droned, as if thinking it did was a crime, but in that fifteen minutes and their guessing, his was the most sensible. Finally, when the train stopped, a silence fell upon every compartment, even Malfoy shut up for this. They heard hundreds of foot steps, and finally, the door in their compartment opened, revealing 5 pale, scar covered boys, about Harry and Ron's age.

"Do you mind if we come in here?" one asked.

"Sure! The more the merrier" Ron said in an oddly cheery voice.

"Thanks," one said and they all smiled.

"It's unusual for the train to stop, how come you didn't get on at Kings Cross?" Hermione questioned interestedly.

"Too dangerous, we're being hunted." One said.

"Hunted, by who?" Hermione gasped.

"Vampire hunters, bloody gits never give up" one said.

"Why would a vampire hunter be after you guys?" Seamus asked confused.

"We're vampires" One said casually.

"You're what?" Neville said edging back calmly, hand rested on his wand.

"Vampires, we've been portrayed a lot differently by books, until this point we haven't interacted with wizards. By the way, I'm Cyrus, this is Ian, this is Roy, this is Anthony, and this John." They all smiled and said hi.

"So, what are vampires about?" Ron asked bluntly.

"Well, we don't kill when we feed, that is the main thing, we are not evil either, our blood cousins, the vampaneze are quite different. They are purple skinned monsters, they kill humans when they feed, and we are at war with them. A few months ago, Professor Dumbledore came to the mountain during session, and asked for a meeting with the princes. He asked them to ally the wizards against Voldort and his death eaters for the vampaneze had already joined this voldort, he suggested that the princes send all half vampires 17 and younger, attend Hogwarts so we can learn defenses against these bad wizards." Ian said.

"You have princes?" Seamus asked dumbly.

"What mountain?" Hermione asked intrigued.

"Sorry, I forgot. Our government is based on 3 positions, Generals, which are soldiers, Princes, who are our leaders and commanders, there are 5 princes currently, and finally, there's regular vampires who are just citizens. The princes live in vampire mountain, all I can say about it is it's very cold." Ian informed them.

"So, how do you change in to bats?" Neville asked. They all laughed hard about this.

"We don't that's just a myth. One myth that is true though is we live for centuries, half-vampires such as my self, age a year every 5 years, full vampires, age 1 year for every 10. To be a half vampire means that your still half human, you don't have all full vampire abilities, your not as strong as full vampires, and you can't flit, which is moving at a speed that the eye can barely see, also we can't communicate telepathically like full. But, compared to humans, we are still incredible, if half vampires were to enter the Olympics, they would surely win over 98% of the events." Roy said.

"Only 53 of us have come, we were the only ones who had potential to do magic, Dumbledore gave us some tests and stuff." Syrus said. Then, Harry began explaining about the wizarding world, and correcting them on the name 'voldort'. Harry took a liking to Syrus, he seemed quite similar to Harry.

Finally they arrived at Hogwarts.

"All firs' years and new students come with me" Hagrid shouted.

When they reached the Great Hall, the Sorting Hat had just finished its song.

"Brinsk, Ian." A voice called, but it was not McGonagall this time, it was...Tonks! Harry nuged Ron in the ribs and pointed up near the hat.

"Crikey Harry, look, it's Tonks!" Ron said.

"I know you twit.!" Harry said jokingly, Mean while everyone around them began cheering, Ian had been voted a Gryffindor. In the end, there were 19 Gryffindors, 17 Hufflepuffs, and 17 Ravenclaws. No Slytherins. Among the Gryffindors were Ian, Ron, and Syrus.

"This year, I'm sure you've noticed, we've opened our doors to new students, they are to be treated with as much respect as you show each other, we are all at a war these days, do not start more within yourselves." Dumbledore started.

"Normally, I wouldn't make a speech before the feast, unfortunately, this year is much different. We'll have 4 new teachers this year, and a new subject, our first new teacher, will be teaching Potions is Miss Nymphadora Tonks." Everyone in the hall cheered for Snapes absence, except or the sulking Slytherins and the confused Vampires.

"Our next new teacher is a Mr. Remus Lupin, to many, he is not new, he will be taking back his old job of Defense against Dark Arts." Once again almost all cheered, especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Our next new teacher will be a Mr. Sirius Black, as many of you know, he was at one point in Azkaban but be assured, he was as innocent of that crime as I or anyone here is. He will be teaching our new subject, dueling!" Ron, Harry, and Hermione were so taken back with happiness they almost forgot to cheer.

"Our final new professor is not able to be here today, but soon enough, he and several students from his old school will be here, he is former headmaster in a school in America and will be taking over Transfiguration for this year while Professor McGonagall is at Vampire Mountain, teaching the princes, in the mean time I will be taking over that class, now you may feast." And with the word feast, large portions of food appeared on each plate. Harry had waited until he had finished his meal to greet Sirius but he was intercepted by Dumbledore.

"Harry, I believe you've been needing to talk to me?" He said. Harry decided that Sirius could wait, this was important.

"Yes professor" Harry nodded, with that, Dumbledore led Harry to his office.

"Skiving snack-boxes" Dumbledore said, Harry was confused until the Gargoyles blocking the path to his office moved.

"So tell me Harry, what's been bothering you?" Dumbledore asked attentively.

"Well professor, this past month, I've been having these spells of not remembering whats happened, first, it happened during apparation class, then when we were attacked by death eaters, Hermione said I used ancient magic, but the spells she described I have never heard of, could it be Voldemort?" Harry asked, afraid of the possible answer.

"Harry, you are involved in a second prophecy was made by Professor Trelawney's grandmother.

'The year that the Heirs of greatness meet,

Is the year a great evil may know defeat,

It will take plus one vampire,

With out, the causes will be dire.

It will take the heirs of the Hogwarts four,

To be complete it will take two more.

The heir of Merlin and the heir of wizard unknown,

All their ancient powers shall be honed'"

"This is the year the heirs must meet Harry. During the moments you can't remember, were you rather excited?" Dumbledore queried. Harry nodded.

"Then it is as I suspected, Harry, you are a true heir of Godric Gryffindor. At those moments you can't remember, it was his spiritual being, he was sort of possessing you, it's just a sign of you being his heir, over the next few week's you will be able to control his power instead of him using you to control his power. You also share the heirship of Salazar Slytherin due to Voldemort, and lastly, you are part Merlin, not nearly enough of this to be an heir, but you are quite distantly related. On the other hand for Gryffindor, he is your greatest of grandfathers. When you return to the dormitory, please send for both Ron and Neville, they are as involved in this prophecy as you are Harry, now please, go get them for me." Professor asked tiredly. Harry nodded and right before he left he had to asked one thing before he left.

"Professor, who is the unknown wizard the prophecy, was talking about?" Harry asked curiously.

"Harry, I'm honored to say that wizard is me" he said with the usual twinkle swimming in his eyes, and with that, Harry was off to fetch Ron and Neville, he didn't need to think at all about them being heirs, the only thing that bothered him was that Ron never had periods in which he couldn't remember what happened. He decided he wouldn't mention it until he returned from Dumbledore's.

When he arrived in the common room Ron had just finished sweeping the floor with Neville in a game of wizard's chest.

"Hey guys Professor Dumbledore said he wanted to see you." Harry said trying to hide the excitement for when Ron returned.

"Me too?" Neville asked awkwardly.

"Yes you too Neville" Harry laughed. For some reason Ron looked terrified as he stood up and left. Harry sat in the corner for fifteen minutes waiting anxiously for Ron to return, finally, he returned, Neville still not their.

"Harry! I'm the heir of Merlin can you believe it? Me! The heir of one of the greatest wizards of all time!" Ron said.

"Ron, I-I think we're related." Harry said trying to figure it all out.

"How do you figure?" Ron inquired.

"Dumbledore said that I was distantly related to Merlin, not nearly enough to be his heir though, I'm already heir of Gryffindor so-,"

"You are?? That's great Harry! I mean who ever thought our in our first year we'd turn out to be the heirs of the greatest wizards of all time!" Ron said happily. Harry completely agreed then remembered,

"How come you never told me about your memory lapses?" Harry asked.

"I feel like kind of a prat now but I felt the same way you did, I thought I was being possessed by you-know-who. I was afraid If I said anything you'd avoid me, sorry mate."

"It's okay Ron" Harry said forgivingly, just then Neville ran in.

"I'm the heir of Hufflepuff! I'm the heir!"

"Didn't see that coming, how bout you Harry?" Ron

"Nope" Harry finished.

"Let's go tell him our news." Harry suggested and Ron nodded.

"Neville, Neville! Wait up" Then dead in his tracks he stopped and turned around.

"Yes?" He said instantly calming down.

"Me and Harry are heirs as well" Ron said smiling.

"Wow! Which ones?" Neville said, happy he had friends with him.

"I'm the heir of Gryffindor and-," Harry started.

"I'm the heir of Merlin!" Ron finished.

"Wow! That's amazing Ron, Merlin!" Neville said amazed.

"Should we show him the gift from Fred and George Harry?" Ron asked peaking Neville's curiosity.

"Well, he is an heir, I think we should." Harry confirmed.

"Neville, follow us" Neville did so and what he found amazed him.

"Fred and George are amazing!" Neville said admirably. What they found amazed them, he too was a double animagus, he was of course a badger and a bear. Neville read up on his animals for hours, as Ron and Harry snuck out to the room of requirement, where it was full of books on lions, phoenixes, stags, and wolves.

"You go first Harry" Ron said as he nudged Harry, Harry nodded reluctantly and once again created his patronus animals and the lion, just as before ran and took his place next to Harry, and the stag joined the lion on the opposite of Harry.

"Haha this is great! Their like guarding me, this is bitchin!" Harry laughed.

"Ok now me." Ron created his animals and his phoenix landed on his shoulder and his wolf laid down before him.

"Haha wicked" Ron laughed.

"Okay, now is the real test, giving them actual form, I'll go first" Harry said.

'I don't think I can do it' Harry thought

'Don't be stupid Gryffindor, Godric was well known for his ability to change himself' a voice said. Harry thought it best not to ask the voice who it was and just do as it said.

"Solidaro" he said, pointing his wand towards the lion at first, nothing, but then, starting at the tail, it began crawling through the lions body, within about 45 seconds it was completely solid.

"Bloody hell, Harry! That's brilliant!" Ron whispered. Harry leant down slowly and began to stroke the lions mane apprehensively at first, and then he got more comfortable as the lion began to do a kind of purring thing, Harry wasn't sure but he knew it was safe and the animal trusted him, he did the same with the stag, it was a lot less friendly as the lion had been, but after about 10 minutes of Harry letting it get used to him, it was almost as comfortable with him as his lion.

"Your turn Ron" Harry laughed. First, Ron made the phoenix, it was just as calm as Harry's lion had been. His wolf though was quite different, it almost bit Ron at first, but after a few minutes, it clamed down and laid down at Ron's feet and then noticed the lion, it immediately rose to its feet and bared it's fangs. The lion responded with a roar and rose to its feet.

"Harry what do we do?" Ron asked frantically.

"Let them finish, they will not hurt each other" Sirius said from the corner.

"Sirius, how long have you been there??" Harry said confusedly.

"About 10 minutes, but let them finish." Sirius said wisely.

After a bit it became obvious this was just a test of each other, first the wolf took a swipe at the lion with its paw, the lion did the same but the lions hit sent the wolf flying. After a bit more, they finished and gave a sort of bow to each other and returned to each others owner.

"My animal and your fathers fought in the beginning. They stopped though. This is how we learned how, I thought that Fred and George would figure it out, they're pretty clever." Sirius grinned.

"You're... not mad?" Harry asked weakly.

"Course not; I'm sure your dad would have been proud that you figured it out. He was a double animagus too, he just never liked his lion, I never new why." Sirius shrugged and gave them some pointers and before they knew it, it was 1:30.

"We should get to bed, I'm teaching my first classes tomorrow, see you then" Sirius smiled.

"This is incredible Harry, I can't wait to find out who the other heir is!" Ron said enthusiastically and with that they started for there dorms.

"I'm telling you Harry, the cannons this year are gonna be great there gonna right out- what the hell?" Ron stopped abruptly.

"What's wrong Ron?" Harry said, nervous at the way Ron pulled for his wand.

"Do you hear that chanting? It's bad Harry, I can feel it can you?" Ron asked. Harry stood still for a moment, then he heard it, in some different language there was definitely chanting and Harry could not only feel the danger, he could see shadows approaching him.

"I feel it Ron, I think we better get our wands out and watch our backs." Sure enough, when the word 'backs' left Harry's tongue, 4 masked students with torches appeared on either sides of the corridor still chanting, and then the torches disappeared and the chanting stopped.

"Harry Potter, you must come to an end, the Dark Lord does not need your constant interruptions of the cleansing, you will die tonight, as will the Weasel!" one of the hooded people said.

"Try it ya prats!" Ron challenged.

"Granoko!" Ron shouted, sending a burst of purple rays towards one of the masked people, on cue, the person was in the air spinning very quickly, currently incapacitated.

"Carnido blarkosos!" Harry pronounced calmly, sending a multicolored jet of light towards the presumed student next to Ron's first target, who blocked it and sent a curse right back at Harry.

"Bikgingo!" he laughed, a green jet flew out of his wand and hit Harry in the chest, Harry's face grew blank and he dropped to his knee's.

"Lewshando!" an unfamiliar voice, and a similar red jet flew and hit Harry, only this time, it seemed to help Harry, Ron would have been more confused had he the time.

"Bookarus!" Ron yelled, sending the apparent leader of the attackers, to the wall with a thud.

"Basilisks of the Lord, scatter!" one of them shouted, with that they all ran out, had Ron not been checking on Harry, he would have cursed them.

"Is he ok?" the unfamiliar voice asked as they stepped from behind the shadows.

"Yea he's-who are you?" Ron asked awkwardly.

"I'm Luke Dio, I just started here I used to go to school in the states." The boy explained, he seemed about Harry and Ron's age only a bit taller.

"Thanks" Harry coughed.

"I felt...bad." Harry managed to say.

"I'm not surprised, your heart stopped. That's a nasty curse you got hit with, a few more moments you wouldn't be talking." Luke said grimly.

"Who the hell were they Ron said angrily.

"I don't know but I don't really feel like being here when they get back, you?" Both Ron and Harry shook their heads and then they headed towards Gryffindor common room after they established he was indeed a Gryffindor.


	8. Basilisk of the Dark Lord

"You should tell Dumbledore!" Hermione said after they introduced Luke and told her about the night before.

"What do you think Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yea, he needs to know" Harry groaned.

"You feel okay Harry?" Luke asked concernedly.

"Just a bit weak other than that I'm okay, thanks" Harry smiled weakly.

"Okay, I can help with that; gran showed me some healing spells over the summer." Neville jumped in.

"Saryus" he said quietly and a wisp a cloud like smoke rose over Harry and fell upon him swirling around and around until it ceased and disappeared.

"How do you feel now?" Neville asked hopefully.

"Much better, that was incredible Neville!" Harry said happily.

"We better hurry or we'll miss Dueling" Hermione said worriedly. They all nodded .

"Dueling, is very important. It is the culmination of your work here at Hogwarts. Being able to duel will keep you alive, lack of this ability, will not be kind to you. I understand professor Lockhart started a dueling club a few years ago, this will be much different, this is not gentlemen's dueling, this class will give you practice of the dueling that you will use if ever in need. You will learn how to anticipate your opponents spells, you will learn to anticipate your opponents reactions to your spells, and you will learn some helpful spells and hexes and jinxes and curses for dueling, and the counters, everyone is as important as the other." Sirius said sagely.

"And hopefully, at the end of this year, you will learn to, if needed, keep those death eaters right in the crotch, everyone understand?" He gave a gaunt smile and began.

"Today, we will see what you know, let's have ummm Hermione and...Mr. Macmillan." Hermione stepped up a bit nervously and Ernie did the same.

"Only use spells you've learnt in school, that way I know what spells everyone knows. At some point I'll call on people and they will have to present a spell we haven't gone over, use 8 and a half inches of parchment. Oh and one more thing, no sissy spells" He laughed.

"Bring in something that would serve some use, you must be able to perform this successfully" He finished.

"Now, this will be a 10 spell duel, both of you will use 5 different spells, you can't repeat a spell that your opponent has cast, for safety, I will put a barrier up which will only allow about half or less of the damage to come upon either of you, all right, let the fun begin" Sirius smiled, which in turn made Ron and Harry smile knowing Sirius was the happiest he had been since Harry's parents were alive.

Ernie had won the coin toss yet allowed Hermione to cast from against her will. The went back and forth pretty quickly but by the time Ernie finished his 3 cast, the duel slowed down quite a but minute by painfully dull minute they reached an end.

"That was quite good, you see, while dueling, it is best not to cluster the same spells. With every different spell you cast, you give some sign of it; whether it be a movement of lips or eyes, after a few times, and experienced opponent will be able to recognize the spell your casting, if you've cast it not so long ago, but if you cast around 5 spells at least between it, he will not remember. Any questions?" Sirius asked, not realizing how impressive that what he just said was quite impressive to the class.

Dean put his hand up looking rather eager.

"Yes Dean?" Sirius grinned, thinking to himself, damn who saw this coming?

"Actually I have two questions." Sirius nodded.

"How the hell are you this cool and a teacher, and can we learn how to find out what the dude we're dueling' is gonna cast?" Dean asked.

"Well.." Sirius winced, he remembered as a teacher, he wasn't supposed to allow students to swear, e shrugged t off.

"I don't know about your first question but, I will try and show you how to see these signs of you opponent." Sirius smiled, feeling great. On their way out at the end of class, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville were all talking.

"This year is going to be the best, I mean no Snape, double Marauders, Tonks? How could thi year go bad?" Ron said happily.

"I don't know Ron but in our past 5 years here, have we had one with out something extremely bad happening, I mean just one?" Hermione said quietly.

"Well you Miss Optimist today aren't you?" Ron said sarcastically. With that Hermione stormed off with out another word.

"I think she's really upset" Neville said bluntly. Ron shrugged, Harry wanted to scold Ron for upsetting Hermione but he feared causing a riff between them like the third year.

"What have we got next anyway Ron?" Harry asked .

"Uh, let's see, oh defense against Dark arts, Neville are you in Advance-," Ron was cut off by Neville's proud nodding.

"Stupid git" Ron snorted. Neville looked some what hurt by this but let it go.

"I bet the entire DA got in, I mean, that's the only reason I got in , last year, with my old wand I could barely perform the stunner with out messing it up, but after the DA, even with that wand I wasn't as bad as I was by a long shot." Neville complimented Harry.

"Thanks Neville but-,"

"Will you three hurry up, we'll be late in a few minutes Hermione said up in front.

"She seems to have recovered," Ron muttered. They took their seats, Neville was correct, about 95% of the DA was their, Ginny was there and as she had said before, Luna was as well, head stuck in the Quibbler as usual.

Moments later the entire class began shrieking, in front of the class was a foul and hideous monster, and then, the walls seemed like they were moving but when they looked closer, it was spiders, all over. Ron passed out at this point, and then the worst of it; their seemed to be a river of blood on the ceiling, and the monster began shrieking like the students, then as subtly as it started it stopped, everything, the spiders, the monsters, the blood, all gone. Then, Professor Lupin trotted n, he smiled at all the pale, sweaty faces, something wrong class" He smiled innocently. Just then Ron came too.

"AHHH! SPIDERS! THE WALL! AHH!" he screamed hen looked around and saw it was all gone and sulked back on to his seat feeling shame of his fear.

"I am sorry if anyone was frightened by that but that was a very impressive display of illusionism. We will be working on this art this year, but I would never have been able to produce the illusion you all saw, the illusionist who created that is quite practiced and talented, he used to scare the hell out of his friends during his own stay at Hogwarts. He is also your very own Dueling teacher Professor Black. I know the basics of illusionary magic, after the first month, you will have learnt all that I can teach you, after that, the good professor will join us for a few weeks, and that will make up our first and part of our second quarter. For the remainder of your second quarter I had planed on teaching you all patronuses, but my sources inform me you have learnt it already." He grinned at Harry when he said this.

"In replacement , we will delve into the basics of dark magic, that is as far as we go though, the basics. The Dark Arts are not bad magic, it is the magic of people who have had pain in there lives that turn to it, it was killed by those who changed it's core.. We are not learning the basics to use it; even as I said; it isn't evil used correctly, but there is such a temptation to delve deeper and deeper into the dark arts that I hope not one person has to bare it; for it can drive you mad. If you allow yourself to get drawn in, after awhile all you can see is darkness, and you can't see the light anymore, it's truly tragic for those whom ever used it without intent to harm anyone unjustly" Lupin said darkly.

"We are learning it for understanding." He finished wistfully.

"But back to illusionism, did anyone not believe it to be real, honestly?" Lupin inquired. Hermione raised her hand.

"I thought at first it was quite frightening, but then I squinted at the walls, I could see through the spiders, I looked at the monster in the front, and could see through it, and also I thought it didn't make sense for thi all to appear out of no where, and then I realized it must have been an illusion." Hermione said proudly.

"Very good, and amazing too, there are very few who are able to keep their senses when under the impression of an illusion, the illusion doesn't only make your eyes see the illusion, it makes the brain think it real, the forgotten art of illusions is making a return. 25 points to Gryffindor." Remus chortled very impressed by Hermione's initiative. After 3 years of Sirius playing tricks on him with illusions, Remus had began to see the way Hermione saw. Every time Sirius put the illusion of some beautiful woman grabbling for him, he would concentrate on his position and everything would go away and he'd usually crack Sirius for it.

As they walked out Ron hung his head.

"What's wrong Ron? You okay man?" Like asked.

"Yea Ron, you don't look well." Harry agreed,

"I'm ashamed of my self, I can't believe it, how can I be so weak and be the supposed great heir of Merlin" Ron spat acidly.

"Ron it's not your fault, remember Bellatrix, Sirius can pull strings in our minds and eyes that make us react differently, if you had seen the spiders in real life, you wouldn't of fainted." Hermione encouraged him.

"Yea, yea your right." Ron said a bit cheerier. Then they saw Syrus, who's head was hung low and was extremely depressed by the looks of it.

"Are you okay?" Hermione cried.

"I'm the last one here. All of my friends were expelled today." He said gloomily.

"Why what happened??" Ron inquired.

"A few of those Slytherins insulted in of the princes who died, and cast spells at them and they lost it, they started throwing them around, Dumbledore told them they'd study back at the mountain." He said dismally.

"They almost killed some kid named Draco something." He added.

"We're really sorry about your friends Syrus, but if it makes you feel any better, almost killing a Malfoy should earn them medals." Ron said, trying to make Syrus feel better. Syrus forced a laugh.

"Yea that kid's a prick." He said happier.

"Well, time for potions." Harry said, the first time he'd ever been Anxious to go to that particular class.

"See you at lunch Sy" Neville bade. When they walked in, Neville nearly hit the floor, Snape was standing their, in the front,

"I'm sorry if you were lead to believe I wouldn't be here, I was counted absent on account of getting my eyebrows dyed" He said his tone unwavering, then they face reconfigured to Tonks.

"I'm just kidding, the Professor is busy and will not be here for this year." She explained. Hermione considered asking if he was hurt; and then remembered, she didn't care; so she let it go.

That class was pure bliss for the entire class, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs alike. Even Neville didn't destroy his cauldron, he made a pretty ok potion. All in all it was great to have Tonks around, and to Harry and everyone else's surprise, both Luke and Syrus were in the class, Syrus was amazing at the potions, according to Tonks, it was flawless. Syrus had no idea he would be so good at potions, he told Harry that Dumbledore had told him to attend the class and he did.

Finally lunch arrived, and not too soon, they were all starving.

"I'm just going to grab a few things and head down to Dumbledore's" Harry explained. On his way down he received several scowls by the portraits and lectures on eating in the halls. Harry ignored them agitatedly, he was still a bit sore from the previous night. But after about 15 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of guessing Harry finallys got through to the head masters stairway. When he arrived at the top step, he knocked on one of the bricks so not to surprise Dumbledore.

"Ah, Harry, come in, I was just telling Remus, Sirius, and Nymphadora of the prophecy." Dumbledore said quietly. Harry greeted the three of them, Harry felt bad telling Dumbledore the news in front of Sirius, who was still wearing the grin Harry was sure he'd been wearing since he last saw him.

"Professor, last night, me and Ron ran into a bit of trouble, we were, attacked." Harry finished painfully, seeing the look of happiness leave

Sirius, and get replaced with worry, yet he remained silent, Tonks did not.

"Jesus, are you alright? By who? Where?" This was the first time Harry had ever seen Tonks serious.

"Harry, I believe it would be best if you started at the beginning." Dumbledore said, trying to hide all worry from his voice. Then Harry told them everything, except about training to be an animagus, he felt this was unnecessary. He proceeded to tell them that Luke had came in and helped scare off their attackers, and saved Harry's life.

"That is a very bad curse, it does not stop the heart, it slows it down slower and slower and after a period of time it does stop, but it is easy to heal, but still very dangerous. Death eaters never showed much interest after discovering there was a cure and the avada kedavra did not. I am proud to say that Luke is my great grandson, this means that he too is involved in the prophecy." Dumbledore said with a sense of pride.

"The what did you call them 'Basilisks of the Dark Lord?' Well, I think it's quite obvious that the Malfoy boy is in charge wouldn't you say Harry?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded, and he truly believed it.

"Now Sirius, we have no evidence, not all boys turn out to be like their fathers, you of all people should know that" Dumbledore eyed Sirius. He was of course referring to Sirius' mudblood pureblood obsessions. Sirius nodded defeated.

"Harry, I've been considering something for a while, and I believe with this new finding, I think we should put it to action. I think that you and the rest of the people of the prophecy, I believe that you should start having meetings much like the DA, and learn these subjects." Dumbledore handed him a list.

Animagus 

_Wandless Magic_

_Creating Magic_

_Private Illusions(with help from Sirius)_

Legilmency and Occulemency

Advanced Transfiguration


	9. The Library

"Also I believe you should learn a bit of ancient magic. In fact, I believe I have something that you might find valuable for you pursuit of knowledge. Please follow, all of you may join me is you wish." Dumbledore finished tiredly, but with a smile. As the cramped party assembled they all started towards where Harry had came from, except Dumbledore, who walked a bout a meter from his original seat to his bookshelf.

"Sour patch kids" He recited, just then they book case retreated from it's place.

"A muggle candy." Dumbledore explained. As they walked down the book case, Harry's anticipation grew with each step down the narrow stone staircase with torches lighting on the walls. Finally, after Harry felt he couldn't take the painstaking journey of all 35 steps.

"Harry, this is my personal library, I believe you may find books pertaining to several of those subjects, there is another entrance from the Gryffindor common room, just utter the pass word and tap the third shelf up with your wand and it will open as mine did. It will be the bookcase closest to the boys dormitory, but now, could you please take the long way back. I also request the presence of Miss Granger and a Mr. Connell. That s all Harry, good night." Dumbledore waved Harry in release. Harry was anxious to see the look on Hermione's face when he told her that there was another library. The only part about that meeting Harry hadn't liked was how Dumbledore didn't say much as to the matter of the Basilisks. Harry decided what he had replaced that information with was quite more important.

Harry ran full sprint with excitement, Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione, Luke, and Syrus would have a difficult time with the information but surely, the ends would justify the means. As he past the library he almost knocked Hermione down, and after a several minute scolding, Harry was finally able to speak.

"Hermione, I've come across something I believe you'll fully appreciate." Harry paused, Hermione nodded signalling for him to continue.

"Dumbledore has his own personal library, he wants you, me, Ron, Neville, Luke, and Syrus, oh yea Luke is Dumbledore's heir! Can you believe it Hermione, another library! WE are supposed to study a few of new subjects, what do you say?" Harry grinned. Hermione only looked down and bit her lip, Harry knew what this was about.

"Hermione, just because your not an heir doesn't mean your not important. Dumbledore himself said that it is imperative that you study these subjects." Harry exaggerated but he figured Hermione would need the encouragement.

"He really said that," Her eyes looking hopeful.

"Yes," Harry stated confidently. Hermione looked up with a large grin to match Harry's.

"Okay then, I believe we should all meet in the library tonight at 8:30 so we can look at the subjects, pick out books, for each subject, meanwhile, I need to use this library." Harry knew that she would be the organizer of the studying group when Dumbledore explained everything.

"Oh, Hermione, do you know where the others are?" Harry asked.

"Luke and Neville have been practicing dueling in the Room of Requirement and Ron has been teaching Syrus wizards chess in there as well.." And with her information, they both continued in opposite directions. After passing several ghosts and portraits Harry arrived at the room of requirement to be almost full except for the center where Ron was standing on a table.

"Step right up, step right up to see the duel of the semester. On my right, Ladies and getnlemen give it up for the Descendent of Dumbledore, Luke!" Ron preached enthusiastically.

"And on my left, Witches and wizards alike, give it up for the home duelist, the cauldrons worst nightmare, the Heir of Hufflepuff, Neville!" Ron shrilled.

"Tonight, the duel will be based on point, each round, who ever knocks the oppponent down first, wins that round. It will be a seven round duel. The betting both starts now!" Ron called of the cheering as he walked over to the booth Harry had missed in the corner of the room.

"Ah yes, beautiful young Ravenclaw, who will you be wagering on and how much?" Ron asked sweetly, making the girl blush furiously.

"I would like to put 5 galleons on Luke." She said meekly still red in the face. For the next 5 minutes, all the bets were being taken, and the wagers would receive a receipt. Right before the duel began, Ron went over and whispered something to both Luke and Neville. They nodded and took their positions

"Okay, their will be no Dark magic, and when your opponent hits the ground stop the hexes, okay I want a clean duel, bow." Ron informed them, with that they were off. Luke cast a stunner at Neville, which Neville blocked easily, for a while, stunners flew back and forth then Neville did an odd wand movement and a puddle appeared at Luke's feet, he gave a weird look and then Neville turned it to a patch of ice, causing Luke to slip and fall. Neville: 1. Luke:0. The 10 rounds went back and forth and finally, after the last round, Ron shooed everyone out except for Luke, Ron Harry, Syrus and Neville.

"Jack pot!" Ron shouted gleefully.

"We made 237 galleons tonight, this is great!" Ron shouted as he jumped up and clicked his heels.

"How did you make that much?" Harry asked almost falling over at the sum of profit.

"Before each match I tallied the amount of bets to find out who had more money on them, then I'd walk over to tem and tell them who had more riding on them, then who ever had more on them, would lose, after10 rounds, it added up." Ron explained as he shook the bag that made making the galleons jingle. Overall, Harry thought their operations were impressive. Then Harry reembered something.

"Luke, are you an animagus?" Harry asked.

"No, I'd like to be one though." He sighed.

"Ron, shall we assist our fellow heir?" Harry grinned.

"I do believe so Harry" Ron said in a business like voice.

"Ok Luke, take your wand raise it up and say 'uscar animales'" Harry instructed, and as he did the familiar puff of smoke came out of his wand, about two minutes later, it disappeared.

"You guys, I'm a Bi-animagus!" He shouted with glee.

"Well what are you?" Ron said anxious to hear.

"I'm a Black Tip Shark and a jaguar!" He spoke excitedly.

"Okay, now you need to find several books on that animal and learn their anatomies, by the way Neville, how are you coming along with yours?" Ron asked.

"I can make them into a ghost like form, I haven't tried creating a solid animal yet, should I try?" Neville considered it and after the encouragement from the rest he tried. After three tries of misshapen animals, he finally created a perfect badger and a perfect bear. At first, the bear intimidated Neville, but the intimidation subsided when the bear bowed to Neville, allowing him to be petted. The badger was a bit more hesitant, but they both warmed up to Neville.

"Okay Harry, Should we try changing?" Ron asked nervously. Harry shook his head.

"I think we should bring Sirius next time just to be on the safe side. Harry explained. Ron nodded his head

Sorry I made this a short chapter but I want some reviews dammit haha neay review itd be apprciated


	10. Training Day

The next morning Harry awoke eager to begin his training in Dumbledore's library, and apparently he wasn't the only one.

"Took you long enough mate!" Ron said. Harry looked over to the clock to find it was only 6:30 in the morning.

"We've been waiting for you to wake up for ages!" Syrus chimed in, aching to start learning magic. As everything came into focus, Harry noticed that Luke was waiting as well as Ginny and Hermione.

After a few seconds of confusion Harry was urged out of bed towards the door. As the group made their way towards the special library they all whispered quietly in excitement, and after a few minutes and stair cases later, they were there, in Hermione's fantasy world, a room containing what had to be over a thousand books.

"Bloody hell," Ron muttered, looking at the vast array of books. "Well, let's get started then," Hermione said enthusiastically.

"We should all decide on a subject to specialize on today." She decided firmly.

"Neville, you read up on healing" Neville nodded and set off to begin what everyone knew would be a long day.

"Harry, you look around for books on illusion spells, actually, you and Ron should work on that together," Harry and Ron grinned and began their search for any books on illusion spells.

"Syrus, since you're new to magic, you should just stick with a few books that are not as complicating for us so you can get the basics of magic, ok?" Syrus understood and accepted a few first, second and third year books from Hermione, and found himself a seat at a nearby table.

"Ginny, you and I will work on Legilmency and Occulemency, and Luke, would you like to learn a bit of wandless magic?" He nodded eagerly walked off in to the large library.

"Uh, Hermione, how do we find the right books?" Ron asked timidly. Hermione shook her head with mild disappointment and whispered a simple book organizing spell Madam Pince had shown her. The second the spell left her lips the library came alive as all the books began flying in to the air and onto the shelves with others of the same subject.

"Now when you come across the section of books your looking for, mark it some how so we can tell which books are where, now get to work." Hermione stated firmly and with that they were back to work.

**Illusion Basics**

_The art of Illusion magic is a rarely used, yet powerful weapon. Few use this in an actual duel due to the fact that it requires much power and concentration to hold some one under a strong illusion. The most basic of Illusion spells makes the recipient unable to see any other people for 30 seconds at most. The incantation is '**Personas Temptos'**_

****"Well, it seems we've got our work cut out for us doesn't it?" Harry stated lightly as Ron and he began practicing the wand movement and incantation.

**Wandless Magic**

_Wandless magic can only be done by a very few people, and it takes years to be able to cast powerful hexes and curses with out a wand, its most common use is healing only because it is the easiest. Wandless magic, much like charms such as the Patronus charm, rely on emotion. The reason healing is so easily done with out wand is because when a person is injured, a Medi-witch or wizard feel the need to help the person, and are able to draw on that emotion to heal. With normal curses though, you must use any feeling you feel important to you, the more emotion, the more power behind the curse, also, the more difficult the curse is, the more emotion needed._

Luke felt he had enough to start out with and decided to try a Stunning spell first.

**Legilmency, Exposure to the Mind**

_Legilmency can be a most effective weapon in several situations. Expert Legilemens are able to see what spell their opponent intends to use next in a duel and then counter with ease. But before you can use this power in a battle situation, you must learn to look through the fabrics of the mind and find the information you need. The skill of Legilmency is like a muscle, one must strengthen it before trying to enter the mind of an Occlumens, and the only way to strengthen this muscle is to train with an Occlumens of equal or more experience. _Hermione continued to read her book while across the table,   
Ginny read hers.

**Occlumency, Shielding of the Thoughts and Memory**

_This is a talent grasped by very few, but if one is devoted enough, they would have the ability to make their mind impenetrable to all who would try and attack it and gain control of the attackers mind.. To begin training as an Occlumens, one must compartmentalize their mind in to different layers, almost like a library. On the outer layers, put all memories trivial and unimportant memories that you would care if anyone knew such as playing games and what not. Below this layer and so on the memories with each layer become more important and guarded than the rest. The purpose of this is so if the attacker breaks through your shield, you are able to try and force it back up while the attacker sifts through the more meaningless stages. It takes absolute concentration to organize your memories and also requires a Legilemens to train with to strengthen your shields. _Ginny continued on in her book with interest.

For hours they all studied and looked through books upon booksuntil Hermione decided it was a good time to stop.

"Well, I think we've made a bit of progress for today." She said feeling accomplished.

"Bloody hell Hermione, what time is it?" Ron said, eyes aching from reading.

"It is," Hermione stopped.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"My watch must be wrong; it says it is only 6:34 in the morning." She whispered in confusion. They all exchanged confused looks and decided to talk it over after some sleep.

As the stepped out side the library, they all felt completely rejuvenated.

"We should ask Dumbledore about this, this is really weird." Harry suggested, and they all agreed.

"So, how much did you get through today Syrus?" Neville asked knowing he was still new to magic.

"I got through the first and second year books pretty well and able to cast all the spells to a certain degree. Right now I just want to learn the spells, now I'm just going to try and make them stronger, you know what I mean?" He explained. Everyone was impressed by how much Syrus had finished.

"Does anyone know Dumbledore's password?" Harry remembered when they reached the gargoyles.

"It's skiving snackboxes, he told me when I got here if I needed to see him don't hesitate to come to his office." Luke informed them, and with that, they ascended upon the steps to Dumbledore's office, where they found him speaking with one of his portraits.

"Hello everyone, how can I help you?" he inquired with his gentle, grandfatherly tone.

"Um, professor, we were using your library and," Harry began.

"Say no more Harry, you want to know why no time has passed and why you don't feel as though you had spent several hours training. I found this library soon after becoming head master, it is known as the 'Library of the Founders' and also the 'Library of Forever Youth'.

It was created soon after Salazar Slytherin by Godric Gryffindor. Gryffindor was afraid that he didn't have enough time to train to due battle with his new enemy and that Salazar's dark power over whelmed Gryffindor's own pure magic, so Rowena Ravenclaw gave him the idea of creating this library that would put a leash on time and while someone was in side, not a second would pass outside." Dumbledore explained sagely.

"You all did a very good job today, I stepped in side to find a certain book and found you all deep in to your studies, and decided to see how you all were coming along. I believe you spent 6 hours in there, and if you continue at that pace, it would be much to your advantage,

"There's something I need to speak with you all about, as I believe you are all aware, you are all involved in this prophecy, but we are missing one. Do any of you have any suspicions of who the heir of Slytherin could be?" He asked looking at the group that one day may destroy the plague that was Voldemort. They all looked at one another and came up with the same answer; no one had any clue as to whom maybe the heir.

"That's all right, you may go now, and get some breakfast you all look famished." He suggested with a smile.

After breakfast, Ron and Harry went to Sirius and asked for his help with their Animagus training in the Room of Requirement, to which he agreed.

"Ok now, don't be discouraged if you aren't able to change on the first time, it's very difficult, it took your father and I 13 tries each to get it right Harry." Sirius explained.

"Right then, who wants to try first?" he asked with a sly grin. Harry stepped forward and produced his wand.

"Animale transfierro" he said with a bit of a shiver in his voice. Slowly, Harry began taking on the properties of a lion, a mane began forming around his face and he grew hair all over his body. Then, he began to take on the lions body shape, and that's as far as he could get. After that he returned to his normal self.

"Well done Harry! It took your father and I at least 5 times to get our body to imitate the animals. We would be covered in fur and he would grow antlers but we still both stood on two feet, it was quite the sight I'll have you know!" Sirius said laughing about the happier times.

"All right, now Ron, give it a go." Sirius said enthusiastically.

Ron stepped up nervously and did the same as Harry and said the incantation. First came the feathers, then the beak, then his body began to change into that of a phoenixes and then everything came together. Ron had transformed his first time.

"Very good Ron," Sirius said in complete amazement, Ron began to fly around and trilled with excitement. Harry almost fell over with surprise; Ron was now the first phoenix Animagus in the past thousand years at least.

Ron landed with complete grace, so unlike himself, and five minutes later, he was back to his 6 foot red headed self.

"Harry, I did it! I can't believe it, on the first try and all!" The next five minutes were about the same both Harry and Ron celebrating and Sirius looking on remembering how similar he and James acted.

A/N

IM BACK! I'm sorry about the lack of chapter updates its been a very hectic few months, read and review please and I'll try to keep a steady pace of longer chapters


	11. A Day of Grieving

_Harry walked down the narrow hall and found himself in a room quite unfamiliar. At one end, it was completely bare, and at the other, a small bridge leading to as far as Harry could tell, a blue light. Harry stepped cautiously across the bridge, curious as to what he would find on the other end. As he walked on, the bridge seemed to go on forever until finally his feet met the other side. As he grew closer, the light shone brighter, and Harry could feel and energy that seemed to consume the room. It was almost as if a magnet was in the room and Harry was metal, he was unable look or move away from the small wooden door edged with light. As Harry reached for the door knob, he felt an insufferable pain of scalding throughout his hand but he couldn't pull away, he was consumed of what lay beyond the door within the blue light. As the door slid open, though Harry was filled with searing pain, he could make out a statue of…_

"Harry, wake up, there's been an attack!" Ron shouted pointing out the window. Harry rose quickly to see what Ron was pointing at, and sure enough, what he had seen, was enough to make him sick.

Off in the distance, Hogsmeade could be seen engulfed in fire and the Dark Mark loomed high in the sky. Though Harry could not see the village clearly, he could only imagine the carnage that surely laid throughout the small towns streets.

"What happened?" Harry asked frantically, suddenly ripping his eyes off the wreckage which was now Hogsmeade.

"No one knows, McGonagall just stormed in and told us to gather all the younger ones in the common room and try to keep them safe and calm." Luke said sitting on the window seat unable to look away.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked worriedly, as they entered the common room and he couldn't spot her face. "And Neville?" Harry found and urgency all of a sudden seeing two of his close friends missing.

"Relax mate, Neville went to the hospital wing to help Madam Pomfrey heal some of the people they brought in from Hogsmeade, and Hermione is trying to get a few first year girls to unlock themselves from the bathroom and come down stairs, she says their really shook up, don't blame them though." Ron said easing Harry quickly.

"Think Neville needs any help?" Syrus offered as he walked towards Ron, Harry and Luke.

"No, I think we should let him do this on his own, apparently he made quite a bit of headway yesterday during our little study session. Dumbledore came up here right quick to ask for his help in the hospital wing." Hermione explained; appearing with two younger girls in hand who ran off towards the center of the room.

"So what now?" Harry asked impatiently, wishing he could help in some way, completely forgetting about his dream.

"We wait." Luke answered sagely. They five friends spent the next few hours helping the others to calm the hysteric younger kids, and at around 5 in the morning the entire house of Gryffindor laid dormant in the common room.

Neville had stumbled in at around 4 with a look of confusion and sadness on his face and just sat in a nearby chair to reflect. At 6 the professors made rounds to ensure the safety of all the students.

"Dumbledore, how did they cause so much mayhem in so little time, by the time the wards went off and we had summoned the order they had come and gone." McGonagall said in a hushed voice looking over her sleeping house of students, the younger students slept all together in the middle while the older slept in a circle around them.

"We may never know Minerva, but what we do know is that Tom is getting stronger, and that the two prophecies will come to head before Harry leaves Hogwarts, I'm sure, all we can hope to do is delay it until their seventh year so they have enough time to prepare." Dumbledore said, avoiding the window which looked out upon the ruined city of Hogsmeade, where now the flames died down but the Dark Mark still resided as high and clear as when it was first cast.

"This is what gives me hope" Dumbledore stated, pointing to the sleeping students; "The willingness to comfort, and protect the young, and defenseless, and come together as one. If there is one thing good that will come from last night's tragedy, it will be the unification. All we can hope for is all of the houses to pull together for one another, and maybe even smooth out the ridges between Slytherin and the other houses." Dumbledore said, his age truly starting to show after the previous nights events.

"Speaking of the houses, did you find the book you were looking for Albus?" the Head of Gryffindor asked gently eyes searching the room for any missing faces and finding none.

"Not yet, but I think that the contents maybe the cause of the attack on Hogsmeade. I believe they were looking for the entrance, which they mustn't find, if they find the entrance, and then they will surely find their way into the school as well." McGonagall gasped at the mere thought of Death Eaters in Hogwarts.

"Yes Minerva, it's a terrifying thought, which is why we have no choice but to find the entrance before Tom, it is critical to our survival." And with that, the two concerned professors left the house of Gryffindor and proceeded to their offices, there would be no class tomorrow, indefinitely.

The next day consisted of hundreds of students flocking to Dumbledore's office to floo home to make sure their families were ok.

"So what do we do?" Syrus asked while the sat around the common room still awe stuck of the chaos that had unfolded the night before.

"I think we should go to the special library and do some research." Hermione stated firmly.

"It's a good idea, Hermione, but we're not to enter the corridors unless we're to see Dumbledore." Ron reminded her, which received a scowl from her.

"Do you ever pay attention Ron, Professor Dumbledore told us about the entrance from our common room remember?" she recited in a way making Ron go red in the face.

"Right then, let's go shall we?" Harry suggested trying to end a foreseeable argument between the two. They all agreed that they should indeed use the library and proceeded through the entrance, only to find that they were not alone, they found Dumbledore searching through books with most frustration.

"Good afternoon children, how are you all today?" Dumbledore asked with concern.

"We're alright professor just here to do a bit of training, is that ok or do you need the library to your self?" Luke responded.

"No, of course you may use the library; I was just looking for a book, but I must be going, there's going to be a meeting today at the ministry on the damage report of Hogsmeade, so I'm afraid I can not be of any help today, good luck." And with his well wishes, he strode out of the library, robes billowing behind him.

"He seems shaken." Neville stated bluntly, but no one argued, Dumbledore seemed to be showing his true age.

"Today I think we should practice a bit of dueling just for practice instead of straight reading, I think we should grab a few books on curses and practice them in duels." Harry suggested, taking charge, and they all agreed. After half an hour of looking up curses and spells, they went to work, first, Harry against Luke.

Harry started off the duel with a disarming spell and quickly put up a decent shield charm and waited for Luke to make his move, for which he didn't need to wait because the moment he dodged the spell, he was up and running. He sprinted from place to place rapidly sending a vast array of curses and hexes towards Harry.

The strategy Luke had been using was an effective one, Luke was fast enough so when Harry blocked a curse and looked for Luke, he was already out of place, and it also didn't give Harry much chance to cast anything. Suddenly, Harry was struck with an idea, he began spraying water out of his wand and after 30 seconds of spraying he stopped and muttered a freezing spell, causing the water to become solid ice and sending Luke sliding across the floor. Finally, when he stopped, Harry was easily able to stun him.

"That was a lot different then any duels I've ever fought, where'd you learn that Luke?" Harry asked interested in his dodging and sprinting tactics.

"It was a main point in dueling at home, it makes it harder for your opponent to get a clear shot at you and also they have harder time seeing curses if you keep your path random. Good call with the ice, I should have seen that coming," he mused.

Next duel was Neville and Ron which was interesting as well. Ron began with a decent bludgeoning spell which Neville seemed to deflect pretty easily yet Neville made no counterattack. Ron sent another bludgeoning spell but this time it was a bit more powerful, yet Neville was able to block it as well, then with out warning, Neville began sending slashing and piercing spells as fast as he could, tearing Ron to ribbons. Neville had greatly improved; Harry had no idea how much better he really was since last year up until this duel.

Ron wasn't out yet though, in between being bashed and battered with curses, and put up a reflective shield, so any curse Neville cast at Ron would hit Ron's shield and go right back to Neville, assuming the curse didn't shatter his shield. Ron's plan worked, Neville went into another barrage of curses they all went back at him, catching him quite off guard, until he sent a decent powered bludgeoning spell which shattered the reflecting shield, and broke through, but it also went back at Neville, it ended in a draw when they both laid at either side of the library unconscious.

"Wow." Hermione breathed, she too had been quite impressed with the duel. When they were both revived Ron had been bleeding all over and required some serious healing which Neville was happy to help with and after a good five minutes they were both good as new.

"So what book do you think Dumbledore is looking for, he seemed pretty pissed he couldn't find it." Syrus pointed out.

"I'm not sure but you have a point, Dumbledore seems quite upset over his inability to find that book…" Hermione pondered on, considering what could put the Headmaster in such a way.

"So who's up for some animagus training huh?" Ron said trying to lighten the mood.

"What animagus training?" Ginny asked dangerously giving Ron a look that would make many people dampen their robes. Ron opened his mouth when Harry saved him by explaining everything to her. She wasn't mad just eager to catch up, so Harry showed her the spell.

As the smoke cleared from around her, she was seemed a bit confused.

"That spell can't be right Harry, I don't know what you're trying do here…"she said with a hint of confusion.

"I don't think so Ginny; why, what's the big deal, what are you, a beetle?" Ron said with a chuckle.

"No, it's a unicorn, but it's not possible, last year McGonagall said 'no animagus form can be magical'." She explained.

"If that's all you're worried about Gin, relax, we've already discovered that's not true, I'm a phoenix for Merlin's sake. A unicorn though Ginny, that could be dead useful." Ron stated. Ginny was blown away, Ron was a phoenix?

"Hermione, I was wondering, is it possible for me to become an animagus?" Syrus asked coyly, afraid of the answer which he though was almost an indefinite no.

"Certainly, animagus is not solely based on magical skill that only affects the speed at which it takes you to master it, everyone at Hogwarts could do it, but it takes a lot of time and training, so most don't bother." She explained.

"Do you think you can handle the spell?" She inquired. Syrus nodded and took a deep breath, and cast the spell.

"Buscar animals!" he said with conviction. Minutes later the smoke dissipated to reveal a very happy Syrus.

"Well, are you going to tell us or just keep that dopey grin on your face all day?" Ron asked impatiently, causing Syrus to snap back to reality.

"I'm this half-eagle half-lion thing, I don't know what it's called but it is a beast!" He exclaimed with excitement. The animal of which he was referring to, was of course a gryphon.  
When Harry heard this he realized that he was standing in a room full of anomalies of the magical world. Harry, Neville, Luke, and Ron with their double animal status, and Ginny and Syrus with their magical animals, which left Hermione, who seemed to be taking it just fine, Harry was thankful for this because he feared it would cause a rift between Hermione and the rest of the group, which Harry knew would be a big problem.

After the excitement they all decided to go to the Great Hall for some food. As they walked out of the room they almost walked right into Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor, what happened at the meeting?" Harry asked eagerly. Dumbledore just laughed. I wouldn't know, I'm just on my way now." He explained, and then Harry remembered, the whole stopping time thing was something to get used to.

"Professor, before you go, what book are you looking for?" Hermione asked remembering Dumbledore's search of the library.

"Don't worry my dear, it is of no importance." He said, eyes betraying his statement but with that he was gone.

After speaking with the headmaster the group went for breakfast when all of a sudden they were interrupted.

"All students, return to your houses, and await further instructions." McGonagall's voice rang through the castle, and all was silent.

"There's been another attack. On the ministry."


	12. Dumbledore's Army Returns

Voldemort had done it; he had started the second war now, beyond any doubt. The entire hall grew silent upon McGonagall's words for many people had family that worked there. And then Harry remembered, Dumbledore was there, along with the magical governments all around the world.

Just as urgent and worried whispers began to ring out through the Great Hall; massive raven's swept through the windows and dropped black envelopes with red writing on every single students lap.

_Dear student, _

_We believe that the school you are currently attending is a dismal blemish upon the face of the wizarding world. Not only that, but we believe that the crack pot Dumbledore is a fool that refuses to enlighten those noble enough to pursue the Dark Arts, and a disgrace for letting the muggle-born riff-raff in to a learning institution that was once home to the great Salazar Slytherin, who would surely not approve of its student population today. But I digress, if you are interested in becoming a member of the elite and powerful wizards and witches, and would like to be taught under some of the greatest minds to walk to earth then I invite you to attend the Institute of Dark Arts, a school which will accept purebloods only, and will teach you concepts and spells you could never hope to learn any where else. _

_Consider This a Golden Opportunity,_

_Voldemort_

_P.S. All those who choose to oppose me shall suffer a most extremely painful death when I become the rightful ruler of the world._

"Merlin Harry, this is bad, he's created his own bloody school!" Ron said on the verge of hyper ventilating,

"Hermione, do you still have the fake galleon?" Harry questioned sharply. When she nodded he continued.

"Call a meeting for right now." He stated and with that he journeyed up the Room of Requirement and began pacing until almost all the members had arrived, after which he stepped up on to a nearby table.

"Everyone, today, Voldemort-," he paused seeing several people flinch, "Voldemort, sent out recruiting letters to a new school he seems to have formed." He stated and after seeing several people gasp it was apparent that the letters had not reached everyone yet.

"This only means one thing; his ranks will become larger and more skilled with his Death Eaters playing professor. This is why I called this meeting, now more then ever we need to pull together and work hard." He once again paused to see his audiences reactions, most of them with fierce intensity nodded; the others, less sure of themselves just looked at Harry for him to continue.

"I believe that even with a stable and capable Defense teacher, we need to practice twice as hard. We are in a war everyone. We aren't on the front lines yet, but we will be. Since Voldemort's recruiting more, so should we, we need a larger group of trust worthy, hard working people, but we must stay a secret society.

"If any one wants out, say so now, because this may be the moment of no return." Harry was nervous at how people would take his speech, and to his relief, only one person left, a Mr. Zacharias Smith, who didn't wait more then 10 seconds to walk out the door.

"With that out of the way I think we should meet three times a week here, practice a different aspect of magic each time, for instance on the first meeting of the week we practice defensive magic, on the second, offensive magic and on the third dodging and agility drills." Hermione suggested, obviously getting the idea of agility drills from Luke and Harry's duel earlier that day.

With that they all agreed and cleared from the room.

"Blimey Harry, your speech was brilliant." Ron complimented with a pat on the back.

"Yes Harry, I think that was a most brilliant speech," said a voice in the corner. It belonged to none other then Albus Dumbledore.

"Professor, what happened at the ministry?" Hermione almost screeched.

"It is still under our control, but their have been many losses, don't worry, all the Weasley's are in perfect health," he assured them after seeing several nervous glances.

"Were there any…you know?" Ginny asked not wanting to say deaths.

"Yes I'm afraid so." He said sadly. "The American representative was caught with a killing curse as were the Japanese and Chinese leaders, also several aurors were killed, but none of them were in the Order. I trust there have been no problems in my absence?" he questioned, sure there were none.

"Um, not exactly sir," Harry began. "Voldemort has started his own school and has sent recruiting letters to a lot some of the students." Harry said quietly. Dumbledore was taken aback. Never had he expected to see this happen.

"I must go see Severus." And with that Dumbledore nearly ran out of the room

"Wonder what he wants with that slimy git." Ron mused

"Isn't it obvious that Voldemort would want him to teach at this new school Ron?" Hermione said indignantly. Before they knew it, it was almost nine o'clock and they were still exhausted by lack of sleep the previous night.

_Once again Harry was in the small room surrounded by stone, which connected by bridge to another side which held an intriguingly simple wooden door which in the space between the wood of the door and the stone of the castle emitted a bright blue light. Harry wanted to run to it in fear of not discovering the mystery that lay beyond the door which eluded him the time before but found his legs unable to carry him at an increased speed. _

_Finally, after crossing the bridge, he felt his skin begin to burn upon the knob of the door, and pushed it open with little difficulty. What he saw confused him, he saw no blue light only statues of seemingly random animals carved in to stone with great detail, and words inscribed at the base of each statue, as he bent down to read what it said below a statue of a phoenix, the words became illegible, and then everything began to fade away, and all he could here were the words "Find me…" in a soft, feminine voice, and with that he drifted back in to consciousness. _

"Damn it!' Harry cursed aloud. He knew just as little about the room as he had before.

Realizing he would not be getting any more, he walked to the common room and entered the special library. While walking through the vast room, he scanned the titles over the shelves, until he found a subject that he found a book grabbing at his interests **_'Powerful Tools and Methods of Ancient Wizardry'. _**He pulled it off the self and sat a nearby table and began to read

_Over a thousand years ago, magic was much different then it is today. At that point in history, almost all respectable and high class families would, instead of wands, carry daggers, or other types of blades. These were all constructed from steel as opposed to our modern day wands, therefore, were able to possess more than one or two cores, a wand can only contain at most two magical cores, do to the fact it is made of wood, too much magical source would make the wand explode, with daggers, the steel was able to draw upon many, many cores, making them much more powerful. The reason people began using wands is because almost all wizarding folk in those days were immensely powerful compared to today's average witch or wizard, and without the immense power that our ancestors once held, these blades were very difficult to learn to use, and that is why people converted to wands. _Harry skipped a few pages forward.

_Years ago, a person family crest was far more influential and important then a mere sign of a heritage line. The crest would signify the mighty and noble family you stood for. Also, the crest is said to have a great influence upon your magic. Story tellers of old have stated that if one has one's crest imprinted upon the flesh that ones magic ability would be able to draw upon the marking. The crest would also play an important factor upon ones magical tool, in those times the dagger. Each crest has a unique animal, unlike any other, what very few people know is that for every crest, there is a heard of animals that the crest is based upon. For example, if a family's crest is of chimera, there is a group of maybe chimeras that the crest pertains to. In those times, the man of the family would leave in search of the herd of animals on his crest, and try to capture a part of it that could be used as a core. _

_Very few were successful, but the few who were, their power increased 13 fold. Another, less believable part of the legend is that if a member of the family finds its crests herd, they could gain complete control of the animals, though this has never been tested or affirmed by officials. For a list of all original pureblood crests, check page 332. _Harry flipped eagerly, fascinated of what his was and finally found it.

_Potter-_and above his name he found a tremendous lion, with flawless wings of red feathers, breathing fire. Harry had never seen such an amazing creature. As he looks closer he saw a dagger clutched in the lions paw. After a few minutes of staring, Harry continued down the page until he found what he wanted.

_Weasley- _And next to his adoptive families name lay an amazing dragon, the likes of which Harry had never seen. It was an amazing ice blue all over its body except for a few patches of royal blue on its belly and tail and a completely royal blue snout, it too carried something, which Harry could easily tell to be a scepter of sorts. Once again, curiosity peaked, and Harry looked up one more name.

_Longbottom-_ Harry was impressed by what he saw; it was the most elaborate phoenix Harry had seen. Its feathers were bright gold, red and black, and off of its body Harry could see small bits of electricity. Finally, Harry spotted a white and gold staff being carried in its talons.

After looking up a few more crests, and finding that upon the Malfoy crest was a blast-ended skrewt, which was much to Harry's amusement, he decided to try and get some more sleep knowing he had a long day ahead of him, even with classes still being held off.

* * *

**A/N**

Well, thats chapter 12, from now on though i wont be able to update as quickly but i should be able to get off a few a week, anyway cmon and give me some reviews id apreciate it, thanks for reading


	13. A Startling Amount of Information

"Harry, what are you doing out of bed?" Harry heard the tired voice of Dumbledore from behind him just before he had reached the exit.

"Oh, good um, morning professor," Harry said not expecting any company in the library. "I had a dream and couldn't get back to sleep so I came here to read a bit." He explained to Dumbledore, who in return had a concerned expression.

"Is it to do with Voldemort, Harry?" He inquired, and Harry shook his head decisively.

"No, it's nothing like that it's just..." Harry trailed off feeling stupid for explaining some silly dream he'd been having to Dumbledore.

"Continue," Dumbledore encouraged.

"Well, I start out in this room you see," Harry began, looking to Dumbledore for any hints of what he was thinking.

"And at the end I'm at, there's nothing, the walls are bare, but in front of me is a long bridge that crosses over this deep gap, and on the other end of the bridge is a door. The thing is though, behind this door is a blue light that just seems to radiate from the cracks in the wood, and when you grab the knob, it is scalding hot and burns your hand.

"Finally, when you open the door, there's nothing in the room but a few statues with words on the base, there's no blue light either so it really confused me." Harry finished, hoping it wasn't going to mean anything important. Of course, Harry was wrong.

"Harry, I'm afraid there's something I haven't told you." Harry's anger began to build, he was almost afraid to hear Dumbledore continue.

"Over the past week, you probably haven't noticed, but I've been searching frantically for a book in the library." Harry almost smiled; it was quite obvious that Dumbledore had been looking for the book, especially since he had told Harry and friends earlier.

"The reason I've been looking so hard is because there is story of a room in the castle that ahs been around for years, it lies somewhere below the castle, deep, deep underground, with an entrance some where in the castle, but the door can only be found by one it is meant for. It is said that what lies in the room is a secret that involves a prophecy, yours in fact." He explained, leaving Harry a bit confused.

"Excuse me professor, but which prophecy?" a question, which Harry felt was one of the oddest asked in Hogwarts history.

"The one I told you at the beginning of term, speaking of which Harry, I have an idea to who maybe heir of Ravenclaw," Dumbledore told Harry, who was hanging on his every word.

"A Miss Luna Lovegood, she will be notified tomorrow morning. But I digress, this room is said to help those whom the prophecy pertains. There is also said to be an entrance in Hogsmeade, which I believe is what Tom was trying to find during his attack." Dumbledore explained to Harry.

"But professor, how could he get in, you said only members of the prophecy could gain entrance?" He asked with a look of confusion across his face.

"Harry, I believe that Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin. Yes, it says that the heirs of the founders must be present, but not necessarily together, do you understand?" Harry nodded he did.

"Well then you understand, if he was to gain entrance, he would gain more power, which we cannot allow, meaning you must find the room first, and use its power to its full potential, He urged. Harry nodded, understanding how important it was for him to find it.

"The reason I was looking through the library is that I've been searching for a book that gives even the slightest hint at where the door could possibly be." Dumbledore finished, and with few more words, he sent Harry off to bed.

As he was leaving the room, he was sure, even with the room's restorative powers, he would certainly be able to sleep on all the information he'd learned that night.

* * *

The next morning Harry awoke with his conversation with Dumbledore still reeling in his head. Looking around the dorm, he found himself alone, all other beds empty and a rather impatient looking house elf seemingly waiting for Harry to wake up and leave.

Harry took the hint and left to find Ron to see if he was up to a duel. Thinking it would be faster, Harry cut through the library to the Great Hall, but what he found amazed him, he stumbled in upon all his friends looking at a rather large hole in the wall leading to a stair case.

"What in bloody hell happened in here?" Harry asked in shock.

"Well you see, Luna Dumbledore told us that Luna was the heir of Ravenclaw, so she came to the library with us, and Ginny and her decided they'd like a duel," Hermione started. "After a few minutes, Ginny sent a rather strong bludgeoning spell at Luna, but she dodged and it hit the wall, and there's a stair case apparently." Hermione said pointing to the obvious stair case.

"We were just about to go get you mate, we weren't sure what to do," Ron explained, without taking his eyes off of the large hole.

"Well, let's go then." Harry said impatiently, remembering the room he and Dumbledore had spoken of, thinking that they may have just found it. With those words, the stepped over the remaining bit of wall over onto the stair case and descended. They walked for ten minutes, with out a word between them until they reached a hallway, a hallway Harry found very familiar.

* * *

"Everyone, I think I know what's going on…" and then Harry proceeded to explain his dream and Dumbledore's explanation of it all. After a few minutes of 'O's' and 'Ah's', they continued down the hall to the small room with the bridge, and crossed the bridge.

While walking across the bridge, the made a discovery, Hermione is deathly afraid of heights, making the whole experience far more difficult then it had to be, because every few minutes she needed to be stopped and reassured they were almost their an that they would be perfectly fine. After what seemed to be an eternity to Hermione, they reached the end and the door, yet there was no blue light, which Harry didn't really consider to be a big deal.

Harry reached hesitantly for the door, in fear of being scalded but was relieved to find all he felt was the coolness of the brass knob. Just as in the dream, the door gave little resistance as he pulled it open, revealing the room he had seen in the dream, only much, much larger.

It was a poorly lit cave type of room of large gray bricks, but around the room laid the most elaborate statues. The first statue, was the phoenix, an then an owl, then a unicorn, a lion, a griffon, a shark, then a bear, and finally a large snake, which Harry presumed belonged to the Slytherin heir. It all made sense to him now, the animals were the people it represented animagus form.

After they all made the same connection as Harry, they wandered over to their animal. "Harry found his to say _'Welcome, you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself You are the heir of the noble and brave Gryffindor, and you shall now be bestowed a power only one can teach, and it will be most useful in your futures bouts against evil. The power of which I speak is elemental magic, the arcane ability to create and manipulate the elements. To learn this ability, you shall be taught by your heir himself inside the Temple of Gryffindor'_ and with that, a map of Hogwarts appeared in his hands as did a door on the wall behind his statue, which he stepped out of into a hallway.

* * *

Seeing what Harry did, Luke followed suit.

_'Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the tragically misunderstood Dark Mage, and shall now be taught the power he once possessed. You will be taught the most ancient of spells from the darkest of places, spells very few use to its proper use. With this map, you will be lead to the Tower of the Dark Mage. Continue on to receive this great knowledge, from the Mage himself.' _Luke continued, a bit shaken, 'Will I be learning dark magic?' we wondered to himself as he walked through the newly appeared door.

* * *

Syrus had done the same as his other two companions and bent down to see what his statue said.

_'Welcome, you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the heir of the forsaken Shadow Knight, an almost immortal warrior who years ago was able to take on great physical feats and conquer all in battle until his allies great betrayal. You shall soon be taught skill of mixing melee combat with magic by the great Warrior himself. Proceed to the Armory of the Forsaken One and you will find him waiting for you.'_ Syrus didn't need any more information; he took his map and practically sprinted out the door, anxious to meet his newly found mentor.

* * *

Ron proceeded slowly; weary of what he may find.

'_Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the All Powerful Merlin. A lesser known power of Merlin's had been his ability to take on the form of anything from animals to humans, and was also able to make altercations to his own appearance. He was, and you shall be a most powerful Shape-Shifter. To gain the privilege of Merlin's tutelage, you must enter the Shrine of Merlin, be weary young man, with great power comes great responsibility' _Ron gulped, he was about to meet and learn under the great Merlin. After shaking himself of his nerves, he exited the cave and began to the tower.

* * *

Ginny had, without hesitation began to read hers.

_'Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the named 'Angel' of Destruction. Though referred to by many as the angel of destruction, she was a mere mortal, with the power to destroy villages out of angel. Other then her amazing gifts, she was also well known for being a caring and kind person, but due to her title, many ran from her out of fear. Go now child, for within the Angel's Sanctuary she waits to impart you with her knowledge and skill.' _Ginny had not expected this in the least, but was not afraid, she took hold of her map and journeyed out the door a step closer to her fate.

* * *

Next was Neville, who shakily leaned forward to discover his power.

'_Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the kind and hardworking Hufflepuff, and you shall now be given the honor of learning the skill of healing under the great Cleric herself, go now young Hufflepuff and master this skill, it will be of great importance in the life of you and your companions. You will find the Matron of Healing in the Cleric's Tower, she is waiting for you.' _Neville understood and was ready, he exited in a hurry ready for all challenges that my lay ahead.

* * *

Now, with just two people left, Hermione did not want to be the last one out of there so she began to read.

'_Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the Sorceress of Mind and Soul, a witch who had the ability to look into not only ones mind, but their heart and soul as well, she could see if they were lying to her, if they were plotting against her, and even if they were an evil person within seconds, which came in handy in a time of war, a time where you must keep your allies close, but enemies closer. Go to the Church of the Sorceress and accept her knowledge.' _Hermione was eager to begin her learning experience so without hesitation, she rushed to her destination.

* * *

Finally, Luna approached the only animal left, which she assumed to be hers, a beautiful raven with a few golden feathers along it's immaculate black coating.

'_Welcome you have reached the Cave of Prophecy, a structure as old as Hogwarts itself. You are the Heir of the wise and rational Ravenclaw, the first and only Animal Empathetic. She was able to speak with all animals and gain their trust, this is a power of great responsibility, use it well. The wise one awaits you in the Fortress of Knowledge, go now and accept your fate.

* * *

_

A/N So that's chapter 13, hope you enjoyed it, but I have to ask you guys, please review, I now some ones reading and even if you think it sucks major ass let me know it helps to know I'm not the only one reading.

**Next Chapter**

We learn what happens at every ones tutoring session, and Harry gets some extra help until then, peace


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